A Rogue Mystery
by Murderee
Summary: Rogue, Jean, Kitty and Tabitha decide to go rollerblading. Innocent enough. But then Rogue goes missing ... who is responsible and why? Pls review! ITS UNFINISHED ALREADY!
1. Rogue? Where are you?

Hiya! This story is a mystery story, starring Rogue! YAY! (My fave character!) So, I'll quit blabbing and get on with it, shall I?  
  
Chapter 1: Rogue? Where are you?  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own a thing on this story, except that it's a story and I wrote it.  
  
*~_,* (heh heh that looks like a snowman - oh, right, yeah, the story)  
  
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"Rogue, like, wait up!"  
  
It was a warm Saturday afternoon in Bayville, and, making the most of Rogue's unusual good mood ("Must be that Gambit guy!" Tabitha said) Jean had asked Rogue if she wanted to go shopping with her, Kitty and Tabitha. Rogue had accepted; they had had such a great time together that they decided between them to go rollerblading in the park straight after. To all of their surprise (luckily they didn't show it) Rogue came with them; Rogue NEVER went rollerblading with them. ("Whah would Ah wanna go with yous?" Rogue often said when someone asked her - then she gave him or her dirty looks and stormed off.) But this time, Jean thought she would because Jean knew (without reading Rogue's mind) that she liked roller blading, she just didn't want to go with the rest of them usually.  
  
So, after their shopping, they went to the Institute (Tabitha to the Brotherhood house) and changed into suitable rollerblading stuff. Rogue was now wearing camouflage crop trousers with a small chain attached, and her usual crop-top-under-green-see-through-thing; Jean was wearing a bright emerald vest and black hotpants and Kitty a pale pink halterneck and purple shorts. They met up with Tabitha in the park at about 6'o'clock and started blading. Though Jean found another reason why Rogue doesn't usually want to come with them usually; she was really good and could outrace them all skating backwards!  
  
'Come on, Kitty, an' you two hurry up - we haven't got all day!! Rogue yelled back at Kitty, a rare grin spreading across her face as she skated about 4 metres in front of the others. She was still skating backwards so she could see them (and laugh at the determined look on their faces) as they struggled to keep up. She was in no trouble though; they were nowhere near catching her up, and if they did, Rogue wasn't even skating her fastest! After a while (and Kitty almost falling over twice!), they decided to get an ice cream each, and sat on the grass eating them.  
  
"Woah, Rogue, I'm like, exhausted!" Kitty said, "Where'd you learn to skate like that?"  
  
"Me and mah friends in New Orleans* used tah go aal the tahme," Rogue replied, with a slightly wistful look on her face, "Everyone went. Even mah Momma** used tah go sometahmes, but - " she ended abruptly with a little shudder.  
  
"But . what?" Jean asked softly.  
  
"Ah just remembered who mah momma really is." Rogue said with a smirk, which turned into a laugh. Everyone else started laughing too as they tried to picture Rogue out roller blading with Mystique. They laughed even harder when Tabitha suggested Rogue should ask Mystique to go roller blading with her and Kurt as a 'family outing that she owed them.'  
  
After a long chat amongst themselves, they decided to skate home. (AN Tabitha is with the brotherhood now, but she's still friends with everyone as you know) After all, it was half-past 8 ("And we don't wanna miss Takeshi's Castle," said Jean, "It starts at 9, and that's Rogue's favourite programme!") So, they split up from Tabitha, and started off towards the institute, talking about their favourite activities on Takeshi's Castle. Annoyingly, before they were even out of the park, a large wad of sticky bubblegum got caught in between the wheels of one of Rogue's rollerblades, which stuck the wheels together, and she skidded along, tripped, and fell, grazing both her hands.  
  
"Oh my gosh Rogue are you alright?" Jean asked, concerned, as her and Kitty bent down to help her up.  
  
"Yeah, Ah'm fahne, just got that annoyin' bubblegum stuck in mah shoe, those annoyin' scrapes on mah hands, and that annoyin' embarrassment of fallin' ovah in the park." said Rogue (grateful as she was that they cared, she doesn't like to be fussed over!)  
  
" Like don't worry about it Rogue, there's like hardly anyone here anyway!" Kitty said reassuringly.  
  
Rogue tried to pull the gum out with her fingers. It didn't work.  
  
"This maght tahke a whahle. You just go ohn ahead, Ah'll catch y'all up when Ah've got the gum out." Rogue said to them.  
  
After a few cries of protest, such as "But its getting dark!", "Its late!", "We can't just leave you here!" etc, Jean and Kitty started skating ahead; they'd been assured by Rogue she'd be fine for a few minutes by herself, she knew the way home, but she would catch them up anyway ("Ahnd you'll nevah even know Ah've gone!"). Rogue took her rollerblades off, and walked to a nearby bench. She grabbed a stick off a tree in the forest just behind the bench, and attempted to prod the bubblegum out with the stick. It made no difference at all. She groaned, rubbed her head with frustration, and kept on trying. She'd put her other rollerblade back on - she felt a bit silly with no shoes on at all.  
  
As she was fiddling with the stick and the shoe, there was the sound of snapping twigs behind her. She whipped around. The forest was dark, she couldn't see a thing, and she wasn't prepared to go and look for something that she didn't even know what it was! 'It was probably just a squirrel.' Rogue thought, and carried on with the complicated problem of the gum, which had become even more wedged into the boot.  
  
"Damn you, yah stoopid bubblegum," Rogue muttered quietly, not hearing more snapping of twigs behind her, getting a bit closer.  
  
After a while, Rogue forgot what she was doing, and just sat, thinking about her life. 'I have one of the worst lives out of all the people in the Institute,' she thought, 'No decent family (apart from Kurt), no decent powers, no decent anything. Yet I do have a decent team. I'm lucky to have the X-men. My life wouldn't be the same without them. I wonder what life would be like if I had stayed with Mystique . '  
  
CRUNCH CRUNCH  
  
Rogue looked over her shoulder at the noise, and watched the forest for a bit, to see if whatever it was that moved moved again. It didn't.  
  
"Thah sooner Ah can get this gum out, thah sooner Ah can get out of here!" she said to herself, and started again.  
  
Several gradually approaching footsteps crunched their way towards Rogue, who didn't hear the first few. She heard some, but ("Am Ah losin' mah mahnd?!") she ignored it, thinking she imagined them.  
  
Rogue sighed. 'It was nice actually opening up and having fun for once,' she thought, 'but usually people think I'm unapproachable, so then I don't wanna approach them!'  
  
A loud, heavy, CRUNCH came from just behind her then, ceasing her thoughts instantly. She whirled around again. She squinted into the darkness - it was too dark - she couldn't make anything out in it. She was starting to get a bit worried now - it was too heavy for a squirrel, or a bird, or a rabbit, or a badger, and they were the only things that lived in there. Besides, she'd been here for 15 minutes alone now; Jean and Kitty were long out of sight. She was sure she hadn't imagined it this time.  
  
She'd had a thought of calling Jean on her mobile phone, and asking them to come back and get her. The park closed in about 10 minutes, and it takes that long to travel to the Park and back to the Institute. In the meantime though, Rogue didn't want to be left alone.  
  
Finally, Rogue came to a decision - she'd ring Jean on her mobile, and ask Jean to ask Logan to come and get her on his motorbike. He'd done it before for her - she was sure he'd do it now,  
  
Pulling out her small black mobile, decorated with glow-in-the-dark spiders and spider-webs, she started to dial Jean's number.  
  
Ring ring . ring ring .  
  
"Come ohn, pick up . " Rogue mumbled, worried for her safety.  
  
Ring ring . "Hello?" Jean's voice sounded from the other end of the phone. She sounded anxious.  
  
"Jean? It's Rogue. Ah -"  
  
"Rogue? Where are you? Why aren't you here by now? The Professor was worried, so were we. Are you with Gambit again, 'cause - "  
  
"No Jean, listen, there's somethang here, near mah, Ah don't know what it is, but Ah know its there. It sounds big. Ah'm . Ah'm . nevah mind. Can you - AARGH!" Rogue screamed.  
  
A figure had just jumped out of the forest, dressed in a large black robe, with a hood that covered its face. It stood facing Rogue, who was frozen with fright.  
  
"Rogue? Hello? Rogue, are you there? Rogue, what's happened? Rogue? . " Jean's voice continued on the phone, sounding more worried each time.  
  
But Rogue was just standing there staring at the figure. She wanted to scream again, and run, but her throat didn't work, either would her legs. Each second seemed like an eternity. Soon, she managed to let out a squeak down the phone.  
  
"Jean.?"  
  
"Rogue? Rogue, what is it?"  
  
"There's - "  
  
"Oh no you don't!" The figure yelled menacingly.  
  
At this point, the figure threw an well-aimed kick at Rogue. It hit her in the side of her face, the side that she was holding her mobile up to. The kick knocked her over; she went hurtling over the gravel pavement. Her mobile fell to the floor, a metre or so away. Seeing that Rogue was still conscious, but hurt, the figure walked over to Rogue (who was laid on the floor, massaging her head) and crouched down beside her. It pulled a spray can out of its robes and sprayed something in her face. Rogue coughed as she breathed in the lilac-coloured gas. All of a sudden, she was very sleepy. She was floating away, then it all went black.  
  
Back at the Institute  
  
"Professor! Professor!"  
  
Jean and Kitty came running in, wobbling all over because of the rollerblades, but trying all the same.  
  
"Girls! What've I told you about doing that inside? I would have thought better of you. "  
  
"Professor, listen! Rogue's, like, in danger!" Kitty yelled.  
  
Professor X looked at the two girls' worried faces, and sensed they were telling the truth.  
  
"I believe you girls. But how do you know? Did you contact her? Is she alright?" He looked at Jean. "Jean? What's wrong?"  
  
Because Jean had gone pale, looking down at the mobile phone clutched in her hand.  
  
"Professor."  
  
Everyone in the room (Professor X, Jean, Kitty, Storm, Beast, Scott and Wolverine) fell silent. The noises made on the other end of the line echoed round the room, filling it up. For a sinister, insane-sounding laugh was taking place, following by an amused voice that said,  
  
"Yes, my dear, we have you now. They can't have you back Rogue; they can never have you back. You're ours, now."  
  
Suddenly the door burst open. It was Kurt.  
  
"Guten abend, my non-fuzzy friends. Vhy the long faces?"  
  
No one answered.  
  
"Er . ok then, most people ignore the fuzzy dude anyvay. So, have you seen my sister around? Takeshi's Castle is on; it's her favourite programme and she's missing it! She vould kill me if she knew I didn't tell her it vas on. Plus, ve vere going to go shopping togezzer tomorrow!" Kurt gabbled excitedly, "Ve need to arrange it! Ve haven't been shopping togezzer before! I'm going to buy her somezing, maybe a - "  
  
"I'm afraid we have some bad news about your sister, Kurt." Professor X answered him.  
  
"(gasp) Vhat? She isn't - she's not - "  
  
"No, Kurt, she isn't - dead." Said Professor X heavily. "But, I'm afraid, that Rogue has been kidnapped."  
  
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Did you all like this? I hope so; it took me ages to write! Who do you all think the figure is? This is only my second piece, so please be nice. Constructive criticism allowed. * = I think Rogue used to live in New Orleans. Forgive me if I'm wrong. ** = Did Mystique live with her in New Orleans (if she did live there at all)? I wasn't sure but it went with the story so I put it in. Please forgive and forget! Don't you just love Takeshi's castle? It's hilarious! See you, don't forget to review!  
  
THUNDERFOX 150 ^_^ 


	2. The plan

From the sounds of it, you all wanna hear what happens next! Well then, I'll be annoying and distract you from the story!  
  
LALALALALALA tenka tana squashed banana OLD MACFARMER HAD A CAKE have you seen the muffin man THE MUFFIN MAN the muffin man HEY JUDE the long and winding road YOU HAVE A LOT TO LEARN MY YOUNG AVALANCHE we have a rogue  
  
Woah, that really leaves you out of breath if you say it in one sentence! I just had to get that out of my system. Now that I have, I'll get on with the story.  
  
By the way, the "Oh no you don't" in the last chapter was cheesy, but is there an episode of Xmen: Evo that hasn't got a cheeseball in it? E.g. "when you're with the Xmen, you're never alone", (not true! You see Rogue on her own loads) and "We'll get through this, because we are the Xmen." (er, yeah, we know, why else would it be called Xmen?)  
  
Chapter 2: tenka tana squashed banana  
  
Just kidding!  
  
The REAL chapter 2:  
  
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"Hey, she's coming round!"  
  
"About time!"  
  
"Quiet, all of you! This is important!"  
  
Rogue slowly opened her eyes. Everything was blurred; the voices seemed miles away. Then, her eyes focused. A face, stern and wrinkled, was looking right into her face. It was so close their noses were almost touching.  
  
"AAARGH!" Rogue screamed. She tried to move away from the face, but she found that her hands and legs were tied together, so she ended up just banging her head hard against the wall. Laughter echoed around the huge, mucky room she was in. The face moved back and stood up straight, three other figures were stood next to it, all of them looking down on Rogue. They were all wearing black robes with hoods that covered their faces, apart from the one who was just looking in her own, who had their hood down. Rogue recognised the face. It was Magneto, smiling with a sly look in his eyes.  
  
"Shut up! You three laughing at her will not do anyone any good!" the third voice she'd heard said sharply, silencing the laughter. The person who said this crouched down beside Rogue.  
  
"Its alright, don't panic." It said to Rogue, in a very familiar voice.  
  
"Momma?" Rogue squeaked.  
  
"Yes, my child, it is I, Mystique*." She took off her hood, revealing her blue mischievous face. "These three - " she gestured to the people standing around them " - and I have welcomed you into our team. You should be glad to be here, you aren't safe with the Xmen anymore." Rogue burst into tears.  
  
"Whah have you tahken me? Ah was happy with thah Xmen. Ah told you before, Ah don't wanna be in youhr team Momma!" she said between sobs.  
  
"Spoilt brat," said a voice from under a hood. "She needs a good beatin'." It punched its fist into its other hand menacingly.  
  
"Actually, Sabretooth, she is anything but spoilt." Mystique said to the figure, who removed his hood to reveal a grinning Sabretooth. All but one figure had removed their hood.  
  
"Well, Magneto. What's happening now?" Sabretooth asked the grinning man beside him.  
  
As Magneto launched into a speech to the other three mutants, Rogue took this as a chance to see where she was. She was in a dimly lit room, with bricks and rubble covering the place. There were large scorch marks covering the walls. The ceiling had holes in it where people had fallen through. She knew exactly where she was - the burnt gymnasium.  
  
At the Institute  
  
The Professor headed to his dormitory, feeling disappointed with himself. He had tried to contact Rogue with Cerebro for over two hours, and failed. Something was blocking Rogue from exposure, like it blocked Magneto. He reminisced about earlier this evening when he broke the new to everyone. . . ______________  
  
"VHAT?! No vay!"  
  
"Yes, Kurt I'm afraid so." The Professor replied.  
  
"But - but - thees is all mein fault. If I had just gone with her, and the uzzers - she asked me to, but I said no, because I vanted to plan a joke on Scott. ("What?" said Scott) Oh, Rogue, I'm sorry." Kurt collapsed on the floor and started praying very fast in German, tears running down his face, and getting absorbed by his fur.  
  
"Its not Kurt's fault, Professor, its mine!" Kitty cried, tears streaming down her face aswell. "I yelled at her yesterday because she nicked my hairbrush! It was only a hairbrush . . . now we might not see her again . . ." Kitty trailed off.  
  
"Don't be stupid, Kitty, its my fault!" Jean said, "I was the one who asked her to come with us, if I'd just left her in her room listening to her new Evanescence album she'd be with us now . . ."  
  
"No, its my fault!" Scott interrupted, "I should have come and supervised!"  
  
"No, its my fault totally, me and Jean just left her on her own, in the dark, where anyone could have grabbed her . . . " Kitty burst out between sobs, unable to finish her sentence.  
  
"I shouldn't have let her go out, I read her horoscope this morning and it was bad . . . I told her but she wouldn't believe me! It's all my fault . . . " Amara said, and she turned around and ran from the room, rubbing at her eyes to wipe away tears.  
  
The Professor looked around the room. Jean had gone extremely pale, clutching the mobile still held in her hand so tightly that her fingers had gone white, and things were randomly floating round the room. Kitty was sat on the couch crying her eyes out, and Storm had an arm round her, though Storm herself was shaking badly. Kurt had teleported to on the ceiling, hanging upside-down by his tail from the chandelier, still praying in German, his fur dark blue from tears. Amara had run from the room, followed by Wolverine. Sounds of roaring and slashing of claws came from the room next door, the Professor knew why. Rogue was like the daughter he never had. Beast was quoting Shakespeare, and Scott was hitting his head with his hand.  
  
"Now then, everybody, Rogue is still alive. We will find her tomorrow morning. Now I suggest that you all get some sleep, we have a big day of searching tomorrow. Jean, will you please share a room with Kitty tonight, you both should have company." The Professor said.  
  
"But - I'm not sleeping in Rogue's bed - that's disrespectful! You don't even care that she's gone!" Jean yelled.  
  
"I care as much as you do Jean." The professor answered solemnly, "Now, if you please, go to bed. I know its early, being only nine - fifteen, but I need to use Cerebro."  
  
They all went off to bed, and the Professor went to Cerebro.  
  
_____________  
  
". . . and then Mystique will morph into Rogue, and steal all the money!" Magneto finished.  
  
"What?" Rogue said.  
  
"Didn't you hear our plan, Rogue?" Magneto asked.  
  
"No, if Ah did whah would ah be askin'?" Rogue replied quickly, some of her fiery Southern temper rising.  
  
"What the plan is, my dear," Magneto paused, then continued, "is that we will keep you here for as long as possible. You are blocked from Cerebro because of that helmet on your head."  
  
'Helmet?' Rogue thought. She must have had a confused look on her face, because Magneto said "You are wearing my helmet. We put it on you while you were knocked out. Anyway, then we hold you as randsom. Xavier will give us money for you, and we hand you back. But it won't be you. It will be your dear mother, in disguise as you, who will then steal the rest of Xavier's money and bring it back here!"  
  
The four of them laughed. Rogue was confused.  
  
"But, whah do you want me? Ah'm no good to yah."  
  
"Oh, but you are, Rogue. You are amongst the most powerful mutants. No one else at the Institute has as good a power as you, except Xavier, Wagner, Munroe and Grey. The psychics have the power to refuse, so they're going too."  
  
"Goin' where?"  
  
"To heaven, my child. You see, Charles and you Xmen are the only things getting in our way so we can't destroy humanity. So, if we destroy Charles and the Xmen humanity these days are over."  
  
Rogue gasped. "Y'all can't do thaht!"  
  
"Yes we can, and we are."  
  
"But - what about Storm ahnd Nahgtcrawler?"  
  
"They are powerful too - they will be joining our team aswell."  
  
"When will we give them the note?" Mystique asked.  
  
"Tonight." Magneto answered. "We can - "  
  
"Excuse mah," Rogue interuppted, "But who attacked mah before?"  
  
"The same person who had this idea, and will break in and give them the note tonight."  
  
"But who's thaht?"  
  
Magneto gestured towards the fourth figure. "Let her see your face, my dear."  
  
The fourth and smallest figure stepped forward. It reached up and lowered its hood, slowly and carefully.  
  
Rogue gasped, and burst into tears again.  
  
"No!" she cried, "No! Not you!"  
  
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Bit of a cliffhanger there, isn't it? Oh well. If you want to know who the fourth figure is, review and I'll write the next chapter asap! Who do you all think it is now? Don't forget to review!  
  
THUNDERFOX 150  
  
Ps Those of you who have read my other story, 'A day in the life of the Xavier Institute', how'd ya like the ending? Lol 


	3. The fourth figure and the note

Here' s chapter 3 then! Thank you all for reviewing!  
  
Disclaimer: I own the disclaimer . . .  
  
Chapter 3: The fourth figure and the note  
  
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" 'Like, Zoinks! Do we have to go in there? Its like, creepsville!' "  
  
"Kurt! Can you turn that damned TV off!"  
  
"But - zis guy speaks like Keety!"  
  
"OFF!"  
  
Suddenly, a red laser beam smashed into the TV.  
  
"There!"  
  
"Scott! You . . . you . . . I hate you!" BAMF  
  
Scott looked at Evan. "Woah," he murmured.  
  
As most people didn't want to be alone tonight, they'd all decided to have girls in Kitty's room, boys in Scott's.  
  
"Man, Scott, that was a bit harsh. Remember, that guy's just lost his sister." Bobby said.  
  
There was an awkward silence.  
  
Meanwhile in the girl's room, it wasn't much better. Kitty was still crying quietly, Jean was trying to comfort her when Kurt bamfed in. He was looking miserable.  
  
"Keety, Jean, can you come with me? I need to see ze Professor."  
  
"Sure, why?" Jean asked, quietly so they didn't disturb the other sleeping girls.  
  
"Just come," Kurt said, and they started off towards the Professor's office. They knocked on the door.  
  
"Come in, you three." The Professor's voice sounded from behind the door. They stepped inside. The professor, Wolverine, Storm, Scott and Evan were already there.  
  
"Kurt, - " began the professor, but at that second, there was a large bang, and the room filled up with pale blue smoke.  
  
"What's going on?" Jean yelled. No one could see anything; the smoke was too thick.  
  
Suddenly a figure stepped out in the mist. It had a long black robe on with a hood that covered its face, and it was holding an envelope.  
  
Wolverine growled, and his claws shot out of his knuckles. He started advancing towards the figure, but the figure didn't move at all.  
  
"Look bub," Wolverine said, pointing his claws at the figures heart, "I don't know what you're doing here, but - "  
  
"But you won't see darling Stripes again if you do that!" the figure said in a cold, female voice.  
  
Everyone gasped.  
  
"Whadda you mean by that, punk?" Wolverine growled fiercely, but the others heard a slight wobble in his usually steady voice.  
  
"I mean that your little Rogue will be no more unless you follow these instructions perfectly!" the figure said, tossing the envelope at Storm, who was standing near. "Get them right, and see your little absorber again. Get them wrong, and we kill her right in front of your eyes. Adios!" There was another loud bang, and the figure was gone.  
  
After a few minutes of shocked silence, Kurt asked feebly, "Vhat does ze letter say, Storm?"  
  
With trembling hands, Storm unfolded the flap of the envelope, took out the letter and began to read,  
  
" X-men,  
  
At the bottom of Ozcas canal,  
  
Will soon lie the body of your southern gal  
  
Follow these instructions, follow them well,  
  
Whether she survives only time will tell.  
  
Storm and Nightcrawler: Go to the Ozcas canal at 2am Wednesday morning. Be waiting on the left-hand side of the kid's pirate ship playground. Have £5,000 (AN: I don't get how to work out dollars & stuff, it seems most of you are from the USA. So I just put pounds, the good ole easy British way! As long as you know it's a lot of dosh, we should be ok) in your possession. Important: Do NOT bring any other X-men with you. We'll know if there is someone there except from you, if that is so you can watch Rogue drown. We will be there. "  
  
This was followed by another silence. Something fell out of the envelope onto the floor. Storm bent down and picked it up, looked at it, then gasped and dropped it again.  
  
"What is it Auntie O?" Evan went over to her, and picked the thing up off the floor. "Oh my . . . look at this everyone."  
  
It was a photo. On it were four figures in black robes stood round a girl with white stripes in her hair, who was tied up, gagged and was sat on the floor. She looked terrified. After everyone had seen it, Kitty asked, "Like, what are we going to do?"  
  
"We will do as they say." The Professor answered calmly.  
  
"I think that if we do this at all, we should do it as a team." Scott said firmly. "After all, we are the X-men."  
  
There was a short moment of muttering about cheesiness, coughs and 'here we go again's from the rest of the team.  
  
"Scott," the Prof. said, suddenly firm, "Do you want Rogue to die?"  
  
Scott was taken aback. "No, of course not Professor, but - "  
  
"Then Storm and Nightcrawler will go alone. You will take the money and rescue Rogue."  
  
"Professor," Evan started.  
  
"Yes Evan?"  
  
"How'd that, erm - whatever-it-was know that Wolverine called Rogue Stripes? He doesn't often go out n public let alone with Rogue, so how'd it know?"  
  
"And Rogue wouldn't have told it!" Kitty exclaimed.  
  
"That figure," Logan said, "smelled very familiar. I thought my senses must be going off, but it smelled like . . ."  
  
"Like who?" Kitty asked.  
  
"Yeah," said Jean, reading his thought, "I sensed it was, but I thought I must be mistaken, it couldn't have been . . . "  
  
"Couldn't have been who?" Evan asked.  
  
"Actually, it was." The Professor said, "My senses are rarely mistaken, and this person was definitely her . . ."  
  
"WHO?!" Kitty, Evan, Scott and Kurt asked in unison.  
  
"It appears that the figure is the same person who attacked Rogue."  
  
"Vell, ja, but who is it?" Kurt interrupted.  
  
"Yes, Kurt, I was getting to that. The person who attacked Rogue is . . . Tabitha."  
  
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Haha! I bet NO ONE thought she would be the bad guy! I know this chapter wasn't as good as the others, but I haven't been on the computer as much coz my big sister Holly's doing her driving test soon and she's practising the theory test on it all the time! Now that you know who the bad guy (well, girl) is please don't stop reading, PLEASE! Review soon and I'll write the next chapter. Ta to everyone who reviewed!  
  
Thunderfox 150  
  
PS Ozcas canal doesn't exist - its named that because this computer's in my other big sister's room and she's called Cassie, and the poster of Ozzy Osbourne I got my mum for Christmas is in here too. Hence, Ozcas canal was born. 


	4. Just to say thanks!

Hi everyone, just a lickle page here dedicated to my reviewing pals out there! You rule!  
  
P.S I've been having nightmares about my P.E teacher lately, I dreamt she was Lord Voldemort! Then I dreamt that Evanescence were having a war against Stan Lee in the car park at school . . . man I have weird dreams!  
  
Thanks for reviewing, you rule guys! *hugs*  
  
furrygirl: I know what you mean, but I like Jean. I'm strange for liking both of them though! You are great! ^_^  
  
Bunny angel: so do you like this fic or not? I have to keep the language nice coz my sister would nose about, read it then tell mum, who would explode. :(  
  
Barbara Ruiz: Thanks so much for reviewing a lot, mush, you're a star! ^_^  
  
Shadow of the Sword: Cool name by the way! Yeh I wanted a bad guy no one would expect; I was gonna put it as another Xman like Jean, but it didn't make sense.  
  
rogue4eva/romy4eva: thanks, but whadda you mean by 'i thought the prof. would sat mystique'? I get confused very easily, I also get a picture of Professor X's wheelchair (with him in it) sat on Mystique . . . hehehe . . . ^_^  
  
Rogue-Lovah: Thanks for telling me, I don't know much about the Evolution Rogue. You're a star too!  
  
Sarah-Crysala: ^_^ You're my main reviewer, and you're so great! Thanks SOOO much! *more hugs*  
  
Luindae: Yeah, some people miss out the sibling-ish bond between Kurt and Rogue, we'll have more of that if you want it! Turning it into a Romy is a good idea actually . . . tell me, people reading this, do you wanna read some Romy? Let me know! ^_^  
  
Original: Ta mush. Gambit isn't evil; he wouldn't have kidnapped Rogue!  
  
Just me: You don't have to review loads, just chill dude! You should know who it is now . . .  
  
ilangel312003: *sniff* Aw you are so sweet thanks I'm sure you're a good writer too!  
  
ZIEL1: Yup Rogue stories are great! You score two out of four on the baddies list! ^_^  
  
ice*witch: Like I say, these cartoons are well cheesy! You expect them to turn into sandwiches soon . . .  
  
Daydream: Thanks for the candies, Rogue'll need them! It's not easy being kidnapped . . .  
  
G-off Joe: Well, mush, I've already talked to you ^_^ 


	5. At the Masterminds' hideout

Hi again people! I'm a bit depressed coz school starts on Wednesday next week, but tomorrow my friend's having a big girlie sleepover so that'll be fun! When school starts, I'll try and write a lot but I have piano lessons, violin lessons, orchestra, dancing, life saving courses and (of course) school in my way - you understand! Ok then, here's chapter 4.  
  
By the way, Sarah-Crysala - sorry for winding you up, I won't do that again. *hangs a sign round my neck that says 'MEANIE-HEAD'*  
  
Chapter 4: At the Masterminds' hideout  
  
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"Hey everyone!" said a voice behind a black hooded robe as it jumped through a window. It pulled down its hood to reveal a grinning Tabby. "It worked great!" she squealed excitedly. Magneto, Mystique and Sabretooth stood up to join her and they all gave each other high-fives.  
  
"Yes! One point to the Masterminds!" Mystique squealed.  
  
'Oh ma god these people ahre even cheesier thahn Scott!' Rogue thought, looking down at the odd group (literally). Magneto had a theory that the X- men might think of looking in the old gym just in case, so Sabretooth held her up to a low stable beam on the ceiling in the storeroom, and Magneto used some lead piping to keep her there. If you walked into the storeroom and didn't look up, you wouldn't see anyone on the ceiling at all. She felt a bit stupid; not only was she tied to the ceiling but she was wearing a weird-looking helmet thing and one rollerblade, plus her hands were tied together at the wrists, and her legs were tied together at the knees and the ankles.  
  
They'd come up with 'Masterminds' as a team name. If you got their first initial, M, S, M and T thenn put them together you could make 'Masterminds.' The four had set up a few desks in the storeroom, so they could stay in there and amuse themselves while making sure that Rogue didn't escape. While Tabby was out giving the note to the X-men, the other three were just sat around on the metal chairs Magneto provided. Mystique and Sabretooth were playing linked up Pokemon on their Gameboys (Mystique was having a tantrum because her Golem was getting thrashed by Sabretooth's Blastoise) and Magneto was watching music channels. Annoyingly, Gareth Gates seemed to be on all the time, and Magneto claimed he liked that song, so Rogue was put through the torture.  
  
'Lock me in a prison cell by any means,' she thought, 'but no more of that, please!'. Now though, they were all listening to Tabby tell them exactly what happened at the Institute.  
  
"And then, I said "but you won't see darling Stripes again if you do that!" "  
  
Sabretooth laughed. "If I knew Wolverine cared for her so much, I'd have kidnapped her everyday! So what did the - " he put on a sarcastic tone " - big, tough, Wolverine say when you said that?"  
  
Tabby grinned, then replied "He went "Whadda you mean by that, punk?" but he'd gone all pale and wobbly!" They all laughed.  
  
Rogue couldn't bear it any longer. She didn't care who they laughed at, apart from Wolverine. He always looked after her, whatever happened, which was more than Mystique had done for her or Kurt.  
  
"Will y'all SHUT UP?!?" she yelled from the ceiling. Surprised, they all looked up at her scowling face, "Wolverine actuallah cares foah meh, he looks afta meh. He's a better dadda to meh as you ahre a momma, Mystique! You were nevah there foah me OR Kurt!" Mystique went a peculiar shade of indigo, and stared at her feet. But Rogue carried on.  
  
"Yah nevah cared if we got hurt, Ah bet if Ah was dyin yah wouldn' care at ahll."  
  
Mystique came back at her at this point. "You know that's not true! I do care!" Rogue wasn't sure if they were tears she could see brimming in Mystique's white eyes, but she didn't care now. She might as well continue her point.  
  
"Ah can honestlah say yah're a lousah momma Mystique. An' yah're a lousah dadda Magneto. Yah lock up yah dahghter an' abandon yah son. Yah don't care about yah friends neither - "  
  
But instead of getting hurt about Rogue's outburst, Magneto got angry. "I don't have to listen to this!" He yelled, and stuck out his hand in Rogue's direction. Suddenly, Rogue felt the most terrible pain she'd ever experienced in her life. It was equivalent to the pain when she absorbed someone, times a hundred at least. Fresh tears were streaming down her face; it felt as if she was going to explode if this carried on, she screamed in agony, the pain just got worse . . .  
  
"Magneto! Stop it! STOP IT!" Rogue heard Mystique yell worriedly through the pain.  
  
"Don't! What if you kill her?" Tabby's voice said frantically, concern for Rogue showing a little.  
  
"Come off it, Magneto, she's only a kid." Even Sabretooth was sticking up for her! Suddenly, the pain stopped. She was still crying, growing weaker, she remembered Mystique looking up at her, saying "Rogue? Are you all right? Magneto! Get her down from there now!" before everything went black . . .  
  
Rogue woke up again a few hours later. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and looked about. She was in the remaining locker room, lying down on a bench. Mystique was watching her, concern written all over her face, and relief on it as Rogue sat up. Tabby was also watching over her, but choosing not to come towards her as Mystique was now, but stayed on the bench she was sat on, looking nervous and a bit embarrassed. Magneto was there too, reading a newspaper on a far away bench.  
  
"Rogue? Are you alright?" Mystique asked again.  
  
"Yeh, Ah'm fahne." Rogue lied; then she suddenly noticed she wasn't tied up anymore. "What just happened?"  
  
"Maybe Magneto can tell you that," Mystique said, clearly annoyed, glancing over her shoulder in Magneto's direction and shooting him dark looks.  
  
Magneto looked up just at that moment and found three people staring at him. One face was confused, one face looked as if they hated him a lot, and the other just looked interested. He blinked.  
  
"Erm . . . " He said.  
  
"Well, aren't you going to explain to poor Rogue what you did to her?" Mystique said coldly.  
  
"Fine," said Magneto, and he walked over and stood behind Mystique, and carried on, "You got me mad, so I reversed your blood flow for a few seconds. Just don't get on my bad side again."  
  
"Whatevah old man." Rogue replied. Magneto glared at her, than said "Tomorrow is Tuesday. I suggest we sleep for now, because we need to train tomorrow ready for our big day on Wednesday."And with that, he walked out the room, followed by Mystique. This left Tabby and Rogue, an awkward silence.  
  
"Er . . . " said Rogue, trying to break the silence.  
  
"Look Rogue, " Tabby finally said, just when Rogue was preparing to go, "We need to talk, and - "  
  
"It can wait til tha mornin." Rogue said, turning her back on Tabby and folding her arms. She was still angry with Tabby for betraying her, and Rogue was getting grumpy from lack of sleep.  
  
"Ok then," Tabby said, sounding dissapointed, "See you tomorrow." And she walked out, leaving Rogue all alone . . .  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
There. Done! Chapter 5 will be Tabby's motive, and maybe what happens on Wednesday morning . . . please review!  
  
Luv Thunderfox 150 


	6. Tabby's motive

Hey everyone! Thanks to SOME people for reviewing NICELY - one reviewer (no names mentioned) should go live in a toilet. (You know who you are - at least I can be bothered to write stuff :p)  
  
Anyway, now that's over, I'll get on with the fic. I've decided to have this chapter just as Tabby's motive- whatever antics happen on Wednesday will be in the next chapter.  
  
Oh yeah, I just remembered. Quite a lot of you Truly Excellent Absolutely Brilliant Reviewers were wondering how Magneto reverses blood flows. Well, to b honest I don't quite know! My daddy got me an Uncanny X-men comic-book- thing with about 3 comics in it if you get me. Well in one bit (Uncanny X- men #418) this nurse person is looking after Alex (Scott's bruv) coz he's in a coma, then that Lorna person with green hair comes along (coz she's Alex's girlfriend or something) and she has the power of magnetism. So for some reason Lorna reversed the nurse's blood flow. Well, if it's sick, Magneto does it. (Hey, good phrase! I'll have to remember that)  
  
Ok then! Chapter 5: (or is it 6? Or 7? I can't remember!) Tabby's motive  
  
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Kurt awoke on Tuesday morning, sunlight streaming through his window, shining on his fur and making it gleam. Kurt himself felt anything but gleaming though. His sister, his only real relative who actually liked him, was gone. She could die at any minute. If only he knew where she was - he would have happily faced Magneto and his acolytes single-handedly - he would be fighting a losing battle (literally) but it would be worth it. With a sigh, he teleported downstairs to get some breakfast.  
  
*  
  
Rogue also woke on Tuesday morning with sunlight also flowing through the minuscule gap in the ceiling. Like Kurt, she was anything but happy. (AN well you wouldn't be if you were kidnapped would ya?) She had awoken from a nightmare, to find that she was still in one. She'd awoken in the night, and, as she was in the locker room, totally untied, figured there might be a chance to escape. She had tried the door - it was open! But things weren't meant to be that easy. Sabretooth was guarding her door, and yelled for Magneto instantly. So, now she was in her usual spot on the beam in the roof, with lead piping round her waist, shoulders and knees to hold her there. Then a thought struck her.  
  
'I haven't eaten for two days! These people haven't even noticed! Good job I've managed this when I was on the streets. Kurt would've died by now!' Rogue smiled slightly at the thought of Kurt. 'If only he knew what was happening . . . '  
  
Suddenly, Rogue's mood changed. She went from a bit sad to very angry.  
  
'How dare they just sleep now, while tomorrow they're gonna kill everyone important in my life!' she thought, fury flaming up in her green eyes as she stared down at the four sleeping people below her. Then, with a sly smirk spreading across her face as she had an idea. Now, what had her drama teacher said before? Oh yes. "If you want to heard, that's great. Just make sure it's loud."  
  
"AH KNOW A SONG THAT GETS ON YAH NERVES, GETS ON YAH NERVES, GETS ON YAH NERVES. AH KNOW A SONG THAT GETS ON YAH NERVES, AHND IT GOES A BIT LAHKE THIS: AH KNOW A SONG THAT GETS ON YAH NERVES, GETS ON YAH NERVES . . . "  
  
"AAARRRRGGGHHHH!" Mystique screamed, as she fell off her chair. "AAARRRRGGGHHHH!" Tabby shrieked as she sat up straight where she was sleeping on the floor and banged her head on the metal desk.  
  
"AAARRRRGGGHHHH!" Magneto yelled, and the metal objects (e.g. chairs, tables etc) levitated a foot in the air.  
  
"AAARRRRGGGHHHH!" Sabretooth shouted as he splatted of a chair that was levitating.  
  
Rogue grinned at the four Masterminds ("Masterminds, whatevah!") but still kept on at the very-loud-very-annoying-song that she picked up from some kids when she was 7. " . . . AND IT GOES A BIT LAHKE THIS: AH KNOW A SONG THAT . . . "  
  
"HOW DO WE SHUT HER UP?!" Sabretooth tried to yell to no one in particular over the singing, his hands covering his ears.  
  
"PLEASE TRY, I'M GETTING A HEADACHE!" Tabby yelled to the same no one in particular, covering her ears too.  
  
"YOU'RE HER MOM, YOU TRY!" Magneto yelled to Mystique.  
  
"ME? SHE HATES ME! YOU'RE THE SCARY EVIL GUY!" Mystique yelled back.  
  
"WELL, YOU'RE THE SCARY BLUE-SKINNED MUM!"  
  
"THAT IS SOOOOOOOOO RACIST!"  
  
"ALRIGHT ALREADY! I'LL TALK TO HER! JUST GET HER DOWN!" Tabby finally gave in. Magneto pointed his hand in the direction of the still-singing Rogue, and undid the lead piping holding her up. Rogue stopped singing then, but then she started yelling too. She was going to fall right onto the metal desk underneath her! She closed her eyes when she fell, but then she hit something quite soft. She opened an eye. She was sitting in Sabretooth's arms!  
  
"Honestly, Magneto, the plan was not to kill her!" Sabretooth grunted, shifting Rogue out of his arms so she landed on her feet.  
  
Rogue sent a glare in Magneto's direction, then asked "Uh - whah am Ah down here?"  
  
"Tabby is going to talk with you. Any questions you wish to ask she will answer." Magneto replied. "Go in the locker room again. The two of you can talk in private there. Go." He gestured lazily towards the locker room. Rogue looked at Tabby. She was staring at her feet, looking nervous. Confidently, Rogue strode into the locker room. Tabby shuffled in behind her. Mystique rolled her eyes and Sabretooth grinned (but not with slaver all over his teeth like in the cartoon coz that's just gross).  
  
"So . . . " Tabby started.  
  
"Ok then," Rogue said sharply, "Question numbah one: Whah'd yah betray the X-men? Whay'd yah betray me?"  
  
*  
  
At the X-men mansion, Logan was getting tired of waiting for tomorrow morning. Every time he asked the Professor about it he just replied, "In time, Logan. In time." Well, Logan was sick of 'in time' so he decided to do a little exploring himself. Sneaking out, he grabbed his motorbike and sped off into the town. Luckily as it was 5 'o' clock in the morning there wasn't many people to spot him. Logan sniffed the air. No scent of her here. But he knew a place he could check . . .  
  
* BANG BANG BANG  
  
"Toad, get the door." Lance mumbled, still half asleep.  
  
"Why me, yo? Make Pietro get it."  
  
"Just get the door Toad." Lance replied, and the ground began the shake just a little.  
  
"Alright alright, I'll get it." Toad grumbled, hopping out of bed and down the stairs. "Why does it always have to be me yo?"  
  
Toad swung open the door. Staring right back at him was a snarling, scowling Wolverine.  
  
"AAARRRRGGGHHHH!" Toad screamed and slammed the door again. Lance, Pietro and Fred all lumbered down the stairs, yawning and rubbing their eyes.  
  
"Who's at the door?" Fred asked Toad.  
  
But before Toad could answer, three claws scraped through the wooden door, and the door fell off. Wolverine grabbed the nearest guy (Toad) and hauled him up in the air.  
  
"Where is she?" he growled at Toad.  
  
"Who?" Toad asked back, his voice trembling.  
  
"You know who I mean!"  
  
"M-M-Mystique? We haven't seen her in days, we - "  
  
"Not Mystique! ROGUE!"  
  
"I've no idea!"  
  
"Don't lie to me, you stinking little - "  
  
"Hey!" Lance stepped forward, "Don't hurt him or else!"  
  
"Wehaven'tseenRogueyhasshegonebyebyes?" Pietro asked, "Iknewthatinstitutewascrap."  
  
"Search here all you want, you won't be able to find her!" Lance said.  
  
"That's because we haven't got her." Fred added. Toad, still in Wolverine's clutch, was nodding furiously. Wolverine threw him down, sniffed the air again and growled "She isn't here." He turned, got on his bike outside and rode away.  
  
"You know, I don't like that guy." Toad said, rubbing his head.  
  
*  
  
"Rogue, I didn't really betray you. I - "  
  
"Whatevah."  
  
"No, really. Just listen. I never fitted in. At home, at the institute, at the brotherhood. My powers aren't the most powerful, so I wasn't important to Mystique. I hated being a 'new recruit' at the Institute. I was bullied at home for being a mutant. I was just out on my own when I had an idea. If the most powerful mutants got together, and formed a team, we would be unstoppable. We could make sure that mutants weren't bullied as I was, as many still are. It would be brilliant."  
  
"And yah kidnapped me because . . .?"  
  
"Because not only are you powerful, you can lure the other powerful X-men here. Not long after I left the Institute, I had a power surge. It enables me to make not only energy balls, but bombs too. I can make mist bombs, knockout bombs, all sorts. That's what I used on you. Don't look at me like that!" Tabby protested, catching Rogue's hatred look, "I'm still your friend!"  
  
"Ah didn't know friends kidnapped, knocked out, kicked, laughed at and criticised each other. Ah'll have tah remember to kidnap Kitty sometahme."  
  
Tabby uttered a small laugh, then continued, "I do care about you though, honestly."  
  
Rogue stood up and whirled round to face her. "NO YAH DON'T!"  
  
"What?" Tabby said, shocked. She hadn't been expecting that.  
  
"YAH CAME OUT WITH MEH, JEAN AHND KITTY THE DAY YAH NABBED MEH!"  
  
"Yeah . . ."  
  
"SO YEH WERE HANGIN OUT WITH TWO PEOPLE YAH WERE GONNA KILL AHND ONE YAH WAS GONNA KIDNAP! HOW FRIENDLY IS THAT!"  
  
Hearing all the shouting, Mystique burst in, making them both jump. "Rogue! Stop it right now. Tabby, go with Magneto, you have to train."  
  
"Humph. Yah not mah momma, yah can't tell meh what to do."  
  
Mystique blinked.  
  
"Oh well, fahne, yah are, but yah sure don't act lahke one."  
  
Mystique frowned, and angrily grabbed Rogue's arm and pulled her back into the storeroom. When Tabby came out, Rogue was tied to a beam with a gag on. Mystique, Sabretooth and Tabby were just in the storeroom about to come out when Magneto burst in looking sinister.  
  
"Look everyone!" he said. Everyone turned their heads in his direction as he finished, "We have a visitor."  
  
He waved his hand through the door and for a minute there was the sound of something really heavy being dragged. Soon, a face appeared at the door. Sabretooth roared with glee. Rogue's eyes widened. It was . . . Wolverine.  
  
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That's the end of this chapter! And remember: the more reviews, the sooner I write! ^_^  
  
Bye  
  
Luv Thunderfox 150 


	7. A sexy french voice, and the Brotherhood...

Sorry I haven't written in ages, I've got two new stories on the go. One, 'A journey through TV' is posted now, but the other one is only written in my diary (it has a lock on so no big sisters can go snooping about, hehe).  
  
Thanks for reviewing, don't stop now! ^_^  
  
Chapter 6 - A sexy French voice  
  
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' Tuesday, 4.45 p.m.  
  
Dear Diary, I'm totally worried about Rogue. She's been missing for ages now. Well, only 3 days, but it seems like forever. There's no one here to yell at me for being too 'perky' (what does that mean anyway, Rogue always calls me that I don't get it), no one here to ignore me and give me cold glares for no particular reason, though I thought I'd NEVER miss those! Things just aren't the same here. Everything goes too perfect. She just had to go just when we were all getting close, didn't she?! Sorry, I'm getting a bit angry now. I just can't control my feelings lately. I've got into trouble at school these past 3 days then I have in years. I'm not the only one, Kurt has too. And Mr Logan is even more solitary then usual. I hope we find her soon, or things won't ever be the same.  
  
Love Kitty xxx'  
  
Kitty shut her diary, and put it under her bed in its usual spot (where no one can find it). Then she sighed and rolled onto her back, resting her head on her pillow. She stared at the ceiling, thinking about the many things that have happened these days. Her, Tabby, Jean and Rogue, rollerblading together, all happy, even Rogue. Kurt's reaction to the Professor's news. Mr Logan's reaction. Herself, Kitty, yelling at a teacher at school because he told her to stop talking, then storming out of the classroom, slamming the door behind her. Just like Rogue sometimes did. At the thought of Rogue, her eyes prickled slightly. Kitty turned on her side, trying to roll away from her thoughts. But instead she found herself facing Rogue's cold, empty bed, which was still perfectly made by Kitty on the morning Rogue went missing.  
  
'She never made her bed,' Kitty thought, a lump rising in her throat. 'I always did it for her.' Kitty's eyes looked around the room, tears blurred her vision slightly, but she blinked them away, a drop occasionally dripping down her cheek. Almost everything reminded her of Rogue.  
  
'She loved those jeans. She never got to wear them,' Kitty thought, her eyes on the baggy, black jeans strung up in a corner, 'Her French homework never did get done,' the exercise book on her desk, incomplete, 'That pen - I said she could have it,' the black biro resting on the French book. Finally her eyes fell upon a photo frame on top of their stereo.  
  
'Kurt gave her that photo frame the other day,' she sniffed, and went over to look at it. It was a large square shape. It was mostly black, but had red twisted up it and silver lettering at the top which Rogue had written herself. It read, 'Me with the team' in gothic writing. Kitty looked at the photo, and that's when the proper tears started, flowing freely down her face. It was the photo that the Professor took in the summer. Kurt was in the pool, splashing Jean who was sunbathing near him. Kitty was on the sunbed next to her, laughing at Jean's horrified expression. Logan had picked Rogue up, and was holding her upside-down by her waist over the pool. Rogue was squirming, looking worried, but she was laughing. Evan was behind Storm, arms outstretched, ready to push her in the water. Storm was oblivious to this, and just stood there with a pleasant look on her face. Scott was nearby, erupting with silent laughter. Kitty smiled, remembering the day, one of the only days where everybody got along. She placed the photo back on the desk, and wandered over to her bed, where she sat down and was just about to start her homework when Kurt teleported in.  
  
"Kurt! How many times have I said, KNOCK before you - "  
  
"Sorry Keety, but its urgent." The blue teenager was unusually solemn, no hint of a joke in his voice or any trace of a smile. Kitty immediately realised something was up.  
  
"W-What is it?" she asked warily, "Is it about Rogue?"  
  
"No. Eet ees more bad news I'm afraid." Kurt paused, sighed, then continued, "Logan's missing too."  
  
*  
  
"Humph. Not the best of situations, eh Stripes?"  
  
"Yah're raght there."  
  
Anyone unaware of the full situation watching this might have found it amusing. A young Goth tied to the roof wearing a weird helmet and one rollerblade, and a middle-aged man attached to the wall by strips of metal with a strange looking collar on. But to anyone who was, it was pretty serious. To them it was Rogue with Magneto's helmet on to stop psychic brainwaves tied to the roof, and Wolverine (who most definitely WASN'T middle-aged) tied to the wall by strips of adamantium (powered by our Master of Magnetism himself) wearing a collar that takes away mutant powers. (AN Those who have seen X1 the movie knows the position Wolvie's in, but he can't use the same method of getting free as he has that collar on.)  
  
"Stripes, how'd this happen anyway? Why didn't you come back to the institute that night?"  
  
"Believe meh, Logan, this wasn't mah idea . . . " Rogue explained it all to Logan, listening intently. When she finished, Logan asked,  
  
"So you've just been here all the time?"  
  
"Yep. Tied to that roof. Not the comfiest way tah be kidnapped." Rogue answered with a sigh. Logan gave a weak chuckle, and Rogue asked, "How come yah here anyway?"  
  
So, Logan also explained his story. " . . . and after I searched the Brotherhood house, the entire mansion and the grounds surrounding it, and all the record stores in town, I thought of Bayville High. So I came here, and caught hold of your scent. I was following it, then Magneto found me."  
  
'God. I never knew he cared that much.' Rogue thought, then said, "Did thah Professor know?"  
  
"No, I never told him. But - " Logan was interrupted by a loud crash outside, and Magneto yelling. He was so angry Rogue and Logan couldn't make out half of what he said.  
  
"RARGH . . . TABITHA . . . BE CAREFUL WITH MY TRAINING EQUIPMENT . . . EXPENSIVE . . . HURTING OUR TEAM . . . USELESS . . . "  
  
This was followed by a squeak of "Sorry" which was presumably Tabby.  
  
"What're they doing out there?" Logan growled, peering out of the small, grimy window at the four mutants.  
  
"Training for their 'Big day'." Rogue answered bitterly.  
  
"Big day . . .?" Logan asked expectedly.  
  
"Oh mah gawd! Ah neva told yah - "  
  
"Told me what?"  
  
" - We have a chance tah wreck thah plan but Ah neva told yah - "  
  
"What plan?"  
  
" - Gawd how could Ah be so stupid - "  
  
"What plan?!"  
  
" - we maght be able tah in time - "  
  
"YAAARRRGHH!" Logan growled/yelled. Rogue looked at him, shocked.  
  
"Sorry," he said, "You wouldn't shut up. Now what plan?"  
  
"The plan is - " Rogue gulped " - to kill the X-men."  
  
* "Something must have happened to Rogue." Lance said decidedly.  
  
"Yeah, Wolverine never would come round usually, yo!" Toad agreed.  
  
"Well, whatarewewaitingfor?WeneedtorescuehersheisstillourfriendreallyI'msureshelike susreallywehavetogogether!" Pietro said/gabbled. The other three looked at him with blank faces. Pietro sighed, then repeated slower.  
  
"What_are_we_waiting_for? We_should_rescue_her_strictly_speaking_we_are_still_friends."  
  
"Yeah," said Fred.  
  
"What can we do? We need to know where she is, what to expect, which mutants will be there . . . " Lance listed.  
  
"We could ask the X-men, yo?" Toad asked Lance.  
  
"Yeah," said Fred.  
  
"Let's go!" Pietro said. A second later he was in Lance's jeep.  
  
"To the mansion!" Toad yelled dramatically, and they drove off.  
  
*  
  
"It's no use Storm." Professor X sighed, removing his Cerebro helmet, "I can't find either of them anywhere." (For those of you who haven't realised, the Prof. can't detect Logan on Cerebro coz he hasn't got any mutant powers at the mo coz of the collar)  
  
"Relax, Charles," Storm said reassuringly, "We shall find them."  
  
Suddenly an alarm went off throughout the mansion.  
  
"There's someone trying to break in." the Professor said, and they wheeled/flew out of Cerebro.  
  
MEANWHILE AT THE GATES  
  
"Come on Avalanche!"  
  
"Humph, I'm making a dramatic entrance here!"  
  
"Us three could have been through there in a second, yo!"  
  
"Whatever Toad. I've got it open now. Oh look, there's the X-men."  
  
Sure enough, the X-men (minus Rogue, Logan and the Newbies) were running/flying/porting/wheeling outside to greet their visitors.  
  
"X-men! What have you done with Rogue?" Lance demanded. As he was the current leader of the team, he felt it was his job to state their purpose.  
  
"Lance?" Kitty questioned. "What are you - "  
  
"Ve haven't dun anyzing with Rogue! Vhat have you done with her?" Kurt interrupted.  
  
"We wouldn't do anything to Rogue! She was our team mate before she was yours!" Pietro yelled.  
  
"So? That doesn't change anything!" Scott yelled back.  
  
"X-men, Brotherhood!" the Professor yelled in their minds. Everyone fell silent and turned to look at him.  
  
"Thankyou," he said aloud, "We would not have gotten anywhere by shouting. Now, Brotherhood, why are you here?"  
  
"Because you've done something to Rogue ad we wanna find out what!" Fred shouted at him. "We haven't done anything to her. How did you find out about Rogue?" Evan asked.  
  
"We don't know exactly what happened, yo. Wolverine came to our door this morning and asked for Rogue. We figured something must be wrong, yo, and you Xmen might know what." Toad explained.  
  
"Rogue's been kidnapped actually." Kitty said angrily. Only god knows why she was angry, she just was.  
  
"What?" All the Brotherhood said at once.  
  
"Why don't you use that detecty-thingy to find her?" Fred asked.  
  
"I've been trying." The Professor answered, "But for some reason it can't find them anywhere."  
  
"Them?" Pietro asked.  
  
"Rogue and Logan." The Professor replied gravely.  
  
Pietro paled. "But if Logan went missing - "  
  
" - and he's really tough - " Lance continued.  
  
" - WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Toad finished, hopping round like a constipated toad. Oh wait, he is one.  
  
"How're we gonna find them Professor?" Jean asked.  
  
"I don't know." The Professor sighed. That was when everyone started to give up hope. If even the Professor didn't know . . .  
  
"Looks like you need Remy's help after all, non?" said a voice from behind the gate.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ Ok, sorry about slight cliffhanger but I bet you all know who the voice belongs to! Please read my Bio & add me to your msn account if you're nice!  
  
As usual, the more reviews the better!  
  
Thunderfox 150 


	8. Remy

Hi again! Hey guess what I was watching Chicago the movie with Spanish subtitles (I have no idea why!) and the word 'brain' was translated into 'cerebro'! How cool! I actually learned something! I feel special ^_^  
  
By the way, its very hectic trying to write chappies for four stories at the same time, so I'm gonna put Blender and Tv on hold for a bit (and yes Rogue77 Animal Crackers chapter 2 will be up there eventually, but I'm sorry coz I haven't started it yet!).  
  
I'm happy because November is getting closer . . . November brings my birthday party! I share it with one of my best friends, its fancy dress with a movie theme! Roll on! Woooooooo! (I'm going as Liz Hurley in Austin Powers! Lol)  
  
Chapter 7 - Remy  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~  
  
"Looks like you need Remy's help after all, non?" said a voice from behind the gate. Everyone's head turned and stared into the shadows.  
  
"Remy?" Pietro repeated with a Malfoy-ish expression, "What kind of a name is that?"  
  
"Speak for yourself, yo." Todd mumbled. Luckily for him, Pietro didn't hear this; or if he did, he ignored it.  
  
"Like, who's Remy?" Kitty asked, confused.  
  
A figure emerged, dressed in a trench coat, and fiddling with a pack of cards. (AN You guys will have to forgive me; I haven't seen any XME episodes past the 1st series so I'm describing Remy like he is in the original series) He took his sunglasses off, and revealed red-on-black eyes, instead of the normal green/brown/blue-on-white eyes. Kitty made eye contact with him for a few seconds, and instantly her heart fluttered in her chest, then melted away. He was sooo handsome! Those eyes . . . Kurt looked at Kitty and frowned at the dreamy expression on her face.  
  
"Dis is Remy!" said the figure, gesturing at himself.  
  
Kitty giggled and blushed, but the rest of the crowd just stood around unimpressed, frowns on their faces.  
  
"And you will help us - how?" Scott asked in a disbelieving tone. They all smirked and waited for Remy's explanation.  
  
"Remy happens t' know where li'l Roguey happens t' be," Remy answered back, wearing an annoyingly smug expression. "An' Monsieur Logan." (Yet another AN I don't do French either so don't sue me if it all goes terribly wrong! o_O)  
  
There was instant uproar at this comment. Jean had to use her telekinetic power to stop Kurt from attacking Remy right there and then. Black clouds swirled over their heads as even the usually calm Storm lost it for minute. Thunder clapped and the ground started shaking slightly as Lance forgot to stay calm also. Kitty forgot about what just happened before and was immediately angry.  
  
'What did I like see in him anyway?" Kitty thought to herself, and shook her head to get rid of the feeling.  
  
However no one managed to stop Pietro, so he zoomed straight into Remy, knocking him over. Everyone was silent at this point, abandoning the threats they were about to throw at Remy as they watched him fall to the ground. The weather cleared and the ground stopped shaking. Remy got up quickly, an angry frown on his face. Pietro stood a few metres away, ready to run again, but was distracted as Remy emptied a card packet into his empty hand, and stood facing the mixed BoM and X-men.  
  
"Remy does not know why y' chose t' attack him. Remy only bin here 5 minutes!" He panted, still winded from Pietro's launch. He shook his head slightly, as if to steady himself, then said, "All Remy was tryin' t' do was t' help y' find your team mates, but if y' don' wan' Remy's help, fine." The cards in his hand glowed bright red, and he continued, "Remy is goin' now, but don' blame him when y' never see Roguey or Logan, or th' light of day again." The other mutants remained silent, confused at his ending sentence and curious of the red cards he was clutching.  
  
Remy started to walk off slowly. The others stood watching him, unsure of what should come next. Then, without warning, Remy spun around and threw well-aimed cards, at least 10, at the unsuspecting mutants. They landed on the ground next to their feet, then exploded. The victims were thrown back, several unconscious. Kurt, however, managed to teleport out of the way before he got hit, and Pietro ran away from the cards. They spotted Remy walking away from the mansion, and ran/teleported to 'meet' him.  
  
Remy was walking back to his home with the Acolytes. He was feeling angry with the X-men and BoM for attacking him, when all he was trying to do was rescue two important members of the X-men team. On the other hand, he was feeling rather triumphant. He, Remy LeBeau, thief from New Orleans, had managed to either knock out or injure two mutant teams single handedly! But a third emotion weighed down on him too - guilt. Guilt for attacking the only people whom could help Rogue, the only people who could rescue that gothic southerner from grief beyond grief, pain beyond pain - her new found family gone forever. Remy couldn't just let them do that to her. He didn't know why he cared, he couldn't explain it - he just, well, did. But Remy didn't get much further with his thoughts, as two teenagers, one blue and fuzzy, and the other, silver-haired and arrogant looking, appeared directly in his path, stopping him walking any further.  
  
"I believe you have something to tell us." Pietro stated.  
  
"Erm - " began Remy but Kurt interrupted.  
  
"Come on, Remy, don't be shy!"  
  
"Remy is not shy," Remy glared at Kurt, "And you all made it clear dat Remy's help is not needed over dere." He gestured to the mansion behind him. "Good day." He made to walk away, but Pietro moved in his way again. "Oui?" Remy asked.  
  
"Remy LeBeau, I don't know what you're playing at, but when I tell my father - "  
  
"Remy wouldn't do dat if I were you," Remy jumped in, and continued casually, "As your father is de one who has Rogue an' Logan." "What?!/Vhat?!" said Pietro and Kurt in unison.  
  
"I tink you'd better come back to de mansion." Kurt added hastily.  
  
*  
  
"Ok, so, maybe if Ah yell loud for Tabby tah come in ahnd somehow get her to absorb me, the psyches in mah head might go weird ahnd Ah'd get more powers, ahnd then Ah'd break yah collar ahnd yah'd get meh down ahnd we'd be free!" Rogue finished her little speech.  
  
"Sorry Stripes, but it ain't never gonna work." Logan replied sullenly.  
  
They sighed. They had discussed lots they could do, (or rather one came up with mad ideas and the other dissed it) but none of them would ever work. They'd just about given up hope when a voice whispered in Rogue's ear,  
  
"Hello, petite!"  
  
Rogue screamed, jumping at the voice so near her. Logan roared loudly at the sudden noise, and glared up in their direction. Remy was hanging upside down on a roof beam net to Rogue's, grinning. "Nice helmet."  
  
Rogue's face flushed a slight pink colour, then turned into a scowl, and she yelled at Remy, "What thah HELL do yah think yah're doin?"  
  
Remy looked around anxiously, then whispered, "Quiet, chere! Remy b' th' ticket t' get you outta here!"  
  
Rogue looked at him with a look that would melt Bobby (AN lol soz I just had to put that!) and replied sarcastically, "Oh, sure, let's trust thah stinky Cajun, after all he does work for the bad guy!" Logan smirked. Remy put on a hurt face.  
  
"Come on mes ami! You can trust Remy!" Rogue rolled her eyes. "And Remy doesn't stink." He added.  
  
"Whadda you mean ticket outta here?" Logan growled at Remy.  
  
"Remy has just been down at th' Institute, where de X-men an' de Brotherhood were gettin' huffy bout de little chere here." Remy answered, nodding at Rogue.  
  
"Thah X-men? AHND Brotherhood? Huffy bout meh?! This can't be rahght, yah're lahyin Remy."  
  
"Non, he is not, petite."  
  
"*Grrrr* Then prove it."  
  
"By doin what, Monsiuer Logan?"  
  
Rogue thought, then said, "Get this stupid helmet off meh, ahnd we'll know yah're tellin thah truth."  
  
"But chere, won't de boss know dat someone was in here?"  
  
"Thahts a chance Ah'm willin to take."  
  
So, Remy removed Magneto's helmet and smiled at Rogue. "There you are chere, your head is free."  
  
"Thankyah Cajun."  
  
Remy jumped down off the beam with catlike agility. "Anyting else, chere?" He grinned.  
  
"Now thaht yah mention it . . . ok, first answer meh this: How did yah know we were here?"  
  
Remy stretched his arms, and said, "Remy knew that was comin'. Well, dis mornin, Remy was bored, so he followed de boss to work. Mags led Remy to here, where Remy spotted Roguey an' Logan all tied up. So, Remy went to de X-men house, where a war was takin' place. Remy told dem where you were, an dey be comin' for you tomorrow mornin'."  
  
"But - but - thaht doesn't work!" Rogue protested, "Tahmorrow is Wednesday! Ahnd - "  
  
"Relax, chere. De blue elf an' Weather witch are bringin' de fake money to de kid playground, while de rest rescue you two." Remy finished.  
  
"OK, Remy, heres one more thing:" Rogue paused, then resumed speaking, "Go to thah mansion before they go ahnd make sure everyone is outta bed ahnd well away from the place. Thaht's important. Yah got that?"  
  
"Remy has, mes ami. De chere's a bossy one, non?" Remy said cheekily, winking at Logan, who just snarled. "That it, chere?"  
  
"Yeh."  
  
"Ok, now Remy has a favour to ask. Can Remy borrow your rollerblade? He needs a ride home!"  
  
Rogue laughed, and said, "Whatevah Cajun! Go ahead!"  
  
"Thankyou chere!" He saluted and grabbed the boot. He tried it on. His large foot was nowhere near the size of the small shoe. He put his hand in instead. "Looks like Remy'll have tah go home like dis, non?" And with that, he ran out of the gymnasium.  
  
*  
  
"Are you sure about this Charles?" Storm questioned the old bald dude.  
  
"Ja, it seems too . . . simple. They vouldn't give Rogue und Logan up just like zat." Kurt agreed.  
  
"That would seem correct. But we'll never know." The Professor replied, not really answering their statements one bit. "Now, you need sleep, as you will be getting up very early in the morning."  
  
No one had the energy to argue, as they had all trained so hard since Remy's arrival. They split up as they went into their separate rooms for the night. But in one room, a conversation was taking place.  
  
"We'll finally show Mystique what we're made of, yo!"  
  
"Hmm, somethingtellsmeMystiquewon'tbetoohappyifyou'redemonstratingonher!"  
  
"Chill, Pietro, we don't have to kill her, just shake her up a lot."  
  
"DOOMED! They'll all be doomed after I see to them!"  
  
The Brotherhood boys had been offered a place to stay in the mansion, as they were set on helping Rogue. This way, they would go with the X-men and actually work together to make a stronger team.  
  
"Come on, fellas, get back to your own rooms, the Toad is getting sleepy, yo!"  
  
And so they also split, and waited for the morning to roll on and see what fate would bring.  
  
Meanwhile, in the gymnasium, the Masterminds were doing the same.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Next Chapter is the big one! Chapter 8 - Wednesday  
  
Yo again hope you liked that I know I haven't updated in a while so sorry! I now have a different account as Black Vampire. I don't know what to do with it exactly, but its there! ^_^  
  
I'm loving Chicago a lot lately coz my friend Willow lent me it, don't ya just love that movie! Me & Rogue77 have already had a convo about that! *winks at Rogue77*  
  
By the way, all of you who are reading this, after you review (which you will - haw de haw!) go on my favourite stories, coz I love 'em all, and you HAVE to read A Depressed Remy coz its super-doodles-with-extra-noodles, especially if you're a Romy fan! (There Lisa we're even now HUN! Lol)  
  
Pleasey pleasey pleasity please review this nice it makes a person happy ya know!  
  
Thunderfox 150  
  
Ps I've got the funniest joke, you might not find it funny but I do a lot!  
  
Q: What happened to the ostrich that went out in the rain?  
  
A: It got wet!  
  
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ok I'll go now coz I'm scaring you & all that jazz! xxx 


	9. Wednesday Part I

Hhhheeerrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeee's Johnny! Or Beth, or Thunderfox, or whatever. ^_~  
  
I'll get to the point - chapter 8! Yay!  
  
Chapter 8 - Wednesday Part I  
  
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" . . . Yes, I quite agree, nothing like some cheesy 80's music at 2am is there? It isn't like anyone out there is even listening . . ."  
  
Kurt groaned as his radio alarm clock went off. He glanced at it - it was indeed 2:00. He was about to roll over and fall back asleep, but he then remembered why he was up.  
  
"Ah yes, ze boat, ze money, ze schwester (pronounced schvester - means sister)." Kurt mumbled to himself as he clambered out of his nice, warm bed and into his cold uniform. He was aching all over from the excessive training yesterday. Though Rogue always complained about the Cajun, really he did save her life. She was pretty lucky. As soon as Kurt thought this, he mentally slapped himself.  
  
'That was very stupid!' Kurt thought in annoyance, 'She's been kidnapped and you call her lucky!'  
  
Kurt stumbled backwards, tripping over some clothes that were strewn on the floor, and fell right over.  
  
'Aarrgh. Damn mornings!' he thought, and teleported downstairs.  
  
*  
  
Storm stood up from her dressing table, and moved towards the window. Why did she have to take the money? She wasn't by far the best fighter or anything, and any thoughts of it being because she was 'the sensible one' were wiped out because Kurt was going with her! She knew she shouldn't worry, that they knew almost all that was happening - but something at the back of her mind told her everything that was going to go wrong, that they would die . . . Ororo Monroe shook these thoughts out of her head, and walked calmly out of her room to meet the others downstairs.  
  
*  
  
Remy sat on a metal ridge in the Rec. room (AN is that what its called? Oh well, it is now ^_~), twirling his stick in between his fingers while waiting for all of the X-men and BoM to join the rest of them downstairs. So far, Scott, Jean, Kurt, Kitty, Storm, the Professor (and of course himself!) were waiting. Amara, Bobby, Ray, Roberto, Rahne, Jamie, Jubilee and Sam (have I missed any? Tell me if I have!) were all stood around in their pyjamas.  
  
"Professor? If we aren't fighting, can't we just go to bed?" Bobby asked. "I'm tired."  
  
"No Bobby. Rogue passed on a message to us through Gambit, saying everything living had to be out and well away from the mansion."  
  
"Why?" Jubilee asked.  
  
"We don't know."  
  
Suddenly the door burst open and Evan zoomed in on his skateboard. He said a trademark sentence,  
  
"Erm, am I late?"  
  
"No Evan. We are simply waiting for the Brotherhood." The Professor answered. Remy kept on fiddling with various sticks and cards, Scott eyeing them warily.  
  
"What's wrong mes ami? Don't y' trust Remy?" Scott ignored these questions, and asked the Professor one,  
  
"Professor, where are the Loserhood? I don't trust them, they must be up to something."  
  
"Ja, I agree. Should I pop up und see them?" Kurt asked eagerly.  
  
"If you must, Kurt. However it is not - " BAMF " - necessary . . . " the Professor trailed off, shaking his head slightly in an amused way at the young boy. (AN Well I know Kurt isn't young young, but he is next to the wrinkly bald dude in a wheelchair! Oh - no offence to wrinkly bald dudes in wheelchairs)  
  
A few seconds later Kurt bamfed back in to the room. "Ze Brotherhood! Zey're gone!"  
  
*  
  
"Heh heh, this was a great plan of mine, yo?"  
  
"Shut up Toad, this was my idea."  
  
"Quicksilver! Toad! Shut up, will ya?! We're going for the stealth plan here!" Lance whispered to the bickering mutants.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, stealth plan!" Fred echoed, as he couldn't think of anything else to say. Pietro and Todd silenced, (for once!) as they all crouched in their hiding places - Lance: a shadowed wall outside the gym, Pietro: on the roof, keeping lookout, Todd: also keeping lookout up a nearby tree, Fred: hidden behind a large bush. (Well he couldn't hide behind a small one!)  
  
Lance peered around a corner of the gymnasium wall. "The coast is clear!" he whispered into the intercoms they pinched from the X-mansion.  
  
"Yo, what's the plan again?" Todd asked.  
  
Lance growled slightly in annoyance, and said into the intercom so they could all hear, "Ok. Mystique, Magneto, Sabretooth and that other girl Remy didn't see, just that she's blonde - "  
  
"Oh, well blondes are dumb anyway." Pietro interrupted, grinning. (AN I have nothing against blondes, it's just the kind of thing Pietro would say)  
  
"Hey!" said Fred, who's blonde.  
  
Lance blew into the intercom, causing a loud and painful noise in the others' ears, and making them shut up.  
  
"Thank-you." Lance said, then continued, "Yeah, anyway, they're all sleeping in the storeroom. The problem is, Rogue and Wolverine are in there too. I saw the two through the window, they're hanging off the roof beam by a piece of metal."  
  
"That must be Magneto, yo, I can tell."  
  
"Dad? Why would he kidnap my friend? I don't get it."  
  
"Anyway. So, I was thinking - Quicksilver could you zoom Toad inside the room, then he could climb up the walls and undo the metal tying them up."  
  
"Uh, yeah, sure I could, but Toad hasn't got enough strength to unbend the metal."  
  
"I do! I do!" Fred said excitedly, actually being able to fit a word in.  
  
"Yeah, no offence Blob, but you're not exactly - well - easy to carry in." Pietro said a bit awkwardly.  
  
"Hey, I got an idea, yo!" Todd piped up, "Quicksilver could zing back to the mansion, grab Miss Prep and come back here!"  
  
"Yeah," Pietro said, catching on, "Then she could use her tele-whateverness to make Dad float, and we could get his skin to touch Rogue's!"  
  
"Then Rogue could use his magnetic power to undo the metal bindings and escape!" Lance finished.  
  
"Yeah! That's great!" Fred celebrated.  
  
"So, am I zing-ing, Avalanche?" Pietro asked.  
  
"Sure are."  
  
In a flask of silver and green, Pietro disappeared off the roof and into the mansion, where all were angry at the Brotherhood's absence. They were stood around debating ("Now whadda we do? They were part of the plan!") when a silver haired, silver tongued mutant appeared, and said in his fast talking way as he grabbed Jean's arm, "Excuse me, may I borrow?" and disappeared again, this time with her.  
  
"Hey! Maximoff! Come back here with Jean!" Scott yelled after him, doin' an angry little dance like the tribal dudes at the beginning of 'African Storm'. But Pietro was long gone, and in a few seconds, appeared back outside the gym, hidden by shadows, and accompanied by Jean.  
  
"Pietro! Oh my god you jerk why did you do that?" Jean gabbed, too loud.  
  
"Shut up Red and listen to me." Lance whispered angrily, "We have this other plan . . . " He explained to Jean their plan, but after he'd finished, she simply closed her eyes and shook her head, nose in the air.  
  
"I'm sorry, Lance but did you really expect me to help you? You're just using me. You never help the X-men, see, you ran away again . . . " Jean lectured, really loudly.  
  
"Jean! Shut it! You'll wake Magneto!" Lance hissed.  
  
"Oh, suuuure, Lance, Magneto's really gonna hear me talk as quietly as this . . . "  
  
"If this is her quiet, I wouldn't wanna see her loud, yo." Todd whispered to Fred, who nodded and shrugged.  
  
" . . . and besides, your plan wouldn't work anyway, it's a really bad plan, yeah, it would never work, and Rogue wouldn't help, she wouldn't do anything just so everyone could suffer - "  
  
"Ooh! Sounds like someone is a little jealous!" Pietro said in a teasing manner, "Don't you want big, handsome Scott to rescue Rogue instead of yoooouuuu?"  
  
"Shut up! I totally am not jealous!" Jean yelled.  
  
"Pietro! Shut up! You're making it worse!" Lance whispered angrily. Indeed, Pietro had made it worse. Jean was now yelling at top of her voice.  
  
"Shut up yo you'll wake Magneto!" Toad whispered urgently, trying to catch the floating things around them and throwing them into the bushes.  
  
"Oh, I'm so sure, Todd Tolanski! And I bet Mystique's there too eh? And Sabretooth?" Jean asked sarcastically, her voice filling the night air all around.  
  
"Actually, yeah, they are."  
  
"And are they all doing the can-can too?"  
  
Todd grinned at the mental image, and answered, "Well, you'll have to ask them yourself!"  
  
"Ok then, I will, next time I see them. But in the mean time, I'll be going home, because I doubt I'll be seeing any of them in a looooooooong time." She was going to fly back to the mansion, but she noticed all the Brotherhood were staring at something behind her. She turned, and hit her head off something. Looking up, three tall figures, and a smaller one, all wearing long black robes with hoods that cover their faces were stood in front of her. She'd banged into the lead one, and it said,  
  
"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that if I were you."  
  
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Yeah, yeah, cheesy line. But what is Xmen Evolution if not for cheesy lines? I'll reply to your reviews next chapter, as I'm on the internet now posting this & I'm not meant to be so ya know! I have to hurry. So I'll try and be quicker updating as SOME people keep telling me off *cough ROGUE77 cough* lol  
  
Ps I know this chapter was short, but its in parts and all. So what the hell.  
  
Review and thy lord shall thank thee!  
  
Thunderfox 150 


	10. Wednesday Part II

By the way, yeah I used to be Thunderfox 150 but, now, I'm not. Lol.  
  
Now, at last, review answers! I would do this more often, but I keep forgetting!  
  
Rogue77: Well we've pretty much said everything already but oh well. Thanks for reviewing. By the way, you have to update soon! I updated like ALL my stories and you didn't update a.d.r or Blue Phoenix for ages!!! You have to do that. Then I will be happy. Which will make the world happy. Because I rule the world. And the world is happy when I'm happy. Which isn't very often. Because I'm not always happy. But when I'm happy, the world is happy. Mwahahahaha. And Jean is dumb. Hehe.  
  
Sarah-Crysala: Yesh Jean is stoopid I think it's just a think with telepaths I mean she is dumb and the Professor simply sucks gragh they're annoying! And about the plot, I don't know if it thins or thickens. I'm not very observant ^_~ And I got rid of the rollerblade for you. Rogue is now shoeless. Lol.  
  
DemonRogue13: Thank you! Read the rest and review that too plz!  
  
NiNab: Ok, ok, I updated! I agree, Rogue fics shall take over. Rogue fans will cheer and Jean fans will die. The end.  
  
Hush: *rubs head* Humph ok I carried on I would put John in but I haven't seen very much of him at all so well you know. Hope you're better soon, but no doubt you already are by now!  
  
GriffinFox: When I read your first review I had to re-read that chapter to see if I actually put that! Lol :p Yeah on behalf on all Rogue lovers: JEAN SUX! ^_~  
  
Rogue14: Thanks for reviewing mush *bows*  
  
Wiccamage: Your reviews make me confused; so do you like this story or not? From the fact you keep reviewing would say you do but what you write in them sounds like you don't. Plz explain!  
  
MaMaMoOoSh: Yesh you go do that I hope you like the rest!  
  
Uykuy: Why thank you! You rule *hugs you*  
  
Shadow of the Sword: Don't worry you can see he hasn't died I'm not planning on letting anyone die unless anyone has any ideas? (HEY EVERYONE HEAR THAT THE TIME IS NOW IF YOU THINK SOMEONE SHOULD DIE AND NOT JUST SCOTT AND JEAN COZ THEY SUCK! ^_~)  
  
rogue4eva: Read ahead and find out! ^_^  
  
Anyway, here's part II of Wednesday morning. Enjoy! (If only I could write good stories eh? ^_~)  
  
Chapter 9 - Wednesday II  
  
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"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that if I were you."  
  
Jean looked up into glowing yellow eyes beneath a hood, and that was enough for her to tell that it was indeed Magneto. She let out a strangled (AN if only lol) wail and flew up into the dark, star-littered sky. She glanced down at the hooded figures and the brotherhood, and flew off towards the Institute, where the others were waiting. *  
  
"MAGNETO! It's MAGNETO!"  
  
Jean burst into the Rec. room, yelling, and met everyone's surprised stares at her return so soon.  
  
"Remy already knew dat, mes ami. (1) Remy told you dat a long time ago." Remy answered. Slight muffled sniggering went round the room. Jean flushed and sat down next to Scott, scowling.  
  
"Anyway," the Professor continued, from before Jean's grand entrance, "The plan will still work without the Brotherhood. Would you like me to go through it again?"  
  
There was mumbling and nods of heads. The Professor explained again,  
  
"Storm and Nightcrawler will take the money to the Pirate Ship. The New recruits will be taking shelter in the Brotherhood house, as Magneto would not attack there, like we have guessed he will attack here.  
  
"The rest of the X-men and Remy will enter the old caves near Ozcas Canal. These are near the Pirate ship, so everything said and done will be witnessed.  
  
"Beast and I will be staying in the plane, just in case you need to get back to it quickly and don't have time to come all the way.  
  
"While Magneto and his cronies are occupied with the money, Iceman, Shadowcat and Jean will try to rescue Rogue and Wolverine. Everyone else will distract Magneto until we have Rogue and Logan, then we will flee the scene. Understood?"  
  
Everyone nodded, except Bobby, who asked the Professor, "Why did you say Iceman, Shadowcat and Jean? I thought you said I wasn't going."  
  
"I did, but - Bobby, Amara - I have changed my mind about you two. Go and change into your uniforms immediately. You are coming with us."  
  
*  
  
"YOU GUYS ARE SICK!"  
  
"Stripes, just shut up, it ain't gonna help anything."  
  
Rogue fumed as she watched Mystique flaunt about the room in her form.  
  
"Yeah, Strahpes." Mystique mimicked, speaking with Rogue's southern accent, "Its not lahke anyone knows where yah are, so they can't come and rescue yah."  
  
Rogue opened her mouth to argue that in fact, yes someone did know, Logan sent her a keep-your-mouth-shut-or-else look. Rogue shut her mouth again and glared at Mystique, who was staring into a mirror.  
  
"Rogue! Would yah rather Ah went out lahke this?" Mystique shape-shifted from Rogue like she was now, to Rogue in a pink cheerleader outfit. Logan suppressed a snort of laughter at the look of horror on the real Rogue's face.  
  
"If Ah wasn't tied up Ah would KILL yah rahght now!" Rogue yelled at Mystique, who simply laughed and morphed back into Rogue as she is now again. At this point Magneto entered the room with Sabretooth and Tabby close behind, carrying some rope.  
  
"Are you ready Mystique?" Magneto asked.  
  
"Ah sure am. But do yah think Ah'd look better with mah hair up?" Mystique replied. Sabretooth rolled his eyes, and he and Tabby started tying her up. Magneto caught Rogue and Logan watching with puzzled looks on their faces. He explained,  
  
"We have to tie her up as otherwise it wouldn't look convincing." Then he said to Tabby, "Are you ready to go to the mansion?"  
  
Tabby sighed, looking down, then her eyes rose to meet her new boss's. "Yeah, I'm ready."  
  
"You won't back out?" Magneto persisted.  
  
"No! I won't!"  
  
"Good. Because it's an important job that needs to be done."  
  
After Mystique was well and truly bound up, so that she couldn't move even if she wanted to, Sabretooth hoisted her up over his shoulder.  
  
"Lets go." He growled, and the four of them left, Tabby one way, Magneto, Sabretooth and Mystique the other.  
  
*  
  
Kitty peeped around the wall of the cave at the huge pirate ship. It was really close, she could see it as you would see the stage from the audience's view. About ten metres away and six metres below the caves in which Kitty stood now, two figures were standing on the ground next to it, and she knew they were Storm and Nightcrawler. Storm was shaking rather badly, looking up at the deck of the pirate ship, which was too far up so she couldn't see onboard. Nightcrawler was pacing around next to her. Storm was holding a little bag with all the money inside.  
  
Kitty withdrew from the cave's edge and looked at Jean, who was standing beside her.  
  
"They're, like, not here yet." She told her. Jean sighed and told the Professor telepathically.  
  
he answered back. He could see nothing from where he hid in the plane.  
  
"Typical, it's raining." Amara said glumly, staring out of the cave entrance.  
  
"Yeah, well, we'd probably get wet anyway, being next to a canal." Evan shrugged.  
  
"Why does it always rain on me . . . " Bobby started singing, conjuring up an ice guitar and pretended to play it.  
  
"Shut up, Bobby. This is no time for messing around." Scott interrupted.  
  
"Ok, ok!" Bobby said, holding his hands up in mock-surrender, "Man, I know what Kurt means now. You really do need to lighten up."  
  
Scott ignored this comment, and turned around to talk to Jean. Bobby mimed smashing the ice guitar over Scott's head, which made Amara giggle.  
  
Kitty looked round again at the ship. Then, as if in slow motion, the ship began to move. Kitty watched, eyes wide with shock.  
  
"Guys!" she whispered loudly, "The ship's moving!"  
  
Everyone hiding in the cave ran to the cave's main entrance to watch the unlikely movements of the enormous ship. Except for one, who smirked and slipped away out of the secret escape route no one knew about at the back of the cave so quietly, nobody noticed.  
  
The ship shuddered; it became slightly blurry before their eyes, and then the metal beams securing it to the ground began to bend and twist in an unnatural way before breaking and falling apart. The ship started to lift off the ground, and flew nearer towards the deepest part of the huge canal. The ship landed half in the water, half out. The X-men in the cave watched, temporarily paralysed with fear and astonishment as two figures onboard were silhouetted against the moon, one holding a smaller, thinner person. The person was tied up, and wriggling against the tight bonds that held her.  
  
"Rogue . . . " Kitty squeaked.  
  
*  
  
"I'm bored!"  
  
"Me too!"  
  
"Why do we have to wait in this dump while everyone else gets to fight Magneto?"  
  
"They took Bobby and Amara, why not us?"  
  
Ray, Roberto, Sam and Jubilee were not best pleased about the Professor's plan. Rahne was trying to calm them all down. It wasn't working.  
  
"Come on guys, I'm sure it was for the best."  
  
"If you call waiting in a stinky, damp, trashed place like this while the others get to have a good fight for the best, you must be more than a screw loose." Jubilee retorted.  
  
"Sure, there's no place like home, yo." Came a very familiar, muffled voice from inside a cupboard.  
  
"Was that . . . Toad?" Jamie asked. No one answered. "Fine, just ignore me then." Still no one answered. "I'll see for myself then." Without hesitation, Jamie got up and shoulder - rammed the door that he thought Todd was behind. This wasn't the best of ideas, as now there was six Jamie's rubbing their shoulder and glaring at the door. Roberto rolled his eyes and stood up.  
  
"Why didn't you just open the door?" he said, and pulled the handle. Three bodies fell out onto the floor, tied up and gagged. Only one of them had got their mouth free.  
  
"See! I told you it was Toad!" Jamie yelled and pointed at the crumpled heap on the floor.  
  
"Toad could do with some help gettin' free, yo." Todd murmured.  
  
"Mmmf-mmmf-mmf." Added Pietro.  
  
"Mmmfle-mmmfle-mmmf." Lance joined in.  
  
After a good few minutes of untying the three, Ray asked, "Where's Blob?"  
  
"They shoved him in the bathroom." Lance answered.  
  
"Yeah, he didn't fit in any cupboard we had." Pietro added, grinning.  
  
*  
  
Rogue was growing impatient.  
  
"Do yah think they'll have beaten them yet?"  
  
"For the sixth time, no! They might not have even seen them yet!" Logan snapped.  
  
Rogue glared at him slightly, and continued to gaze out of the minuscule window into the night. It didn't help; it was so dark outside she would've been better off trying to look through a brick wall. Plus, t was hard to look at things upside down, though, Rogue had to admit, she was pretty used to it now! Suddenly a dark shape flashed past the window.  
  
'Pietro?' She thought. 'No, it was too slow; if it was Pietro, she wouldn't have noticed he was there at all.'  
  
"Logan, there's someone out there." Rogue told the older man.  
  
"Ok, did you see who it was?"  
  
"No. But Ah know it isn't Pietro."  
  
"How'd you figure that one out?"  
  
"Nevah mahnd."  
  
Rogue heard a quiet noise on their right, near the door.  
  
"Logan . . . "  
  
"Shh."  
  
They watched as the door slowly started to open, creaking as it did so. There was a shadow on the other side of the door, the silhouette of a person. Suddenly there was a clap of thunder, and the door burst wide open. There was no one there. Outside the thunder clapped, and the open door revealed a natural storm, the rain pouring down.  
  
"No one there, Stripes."  
  
"But - but - there was . . . "  
  
'Forget it Rogue. You must be losing it, you've been hanging upside down for days.' A voice inside her head (that sounded suspiciously like Jean) said.  
  
'And you haven't slept.' Another voice that was obviously Lance joined in.  
  
'Yeah, and like, you haven't eaten in ages either.' Kitty's voice added.  
  
'Ja, you gotta do zat!' Kurt's voice joked.  
  
'You'll starve yourself to death.' Logan joined in.  
  
'Ha ha!' Sabretooth laughed at her.  
  
'What is this? Let's all gang up on Rogue day?' Rogue thought to the voices in her head, then to herself, 'Maybe I did just imagine it . . .'  
  
Suddenly she heard a voice whisper directly in her ear.  
  
"Ello chere."  
  
Rogue jumped and turned her head in the direction of the oh-so-familiar voice. "Cajun! Quit sneaking up on meh! If mah hands were free Ah'd hit yah rahght now!"  
  
"Remy bets you would, chere. But right now, Remy come t' rescue you." His eyes were warm, charming. But Rogue didn't fall for that.  
  
"Oh yeah? An' what about Logan? Yah gonna rescue him too?" she answered back, smirking.  
  
"If he would like dat." Remy said to Rogue, and then to Logan, "Would you like dat?"  
  
"Just untie me." Logan growled. Remy charged off the metal holding Logan to the wall, then his power holding collar. Logan smiled slightly as SNIKT! out came the claws.  
  
"You know, I haven't had them in that long since I got 'em." He said.  
  
"Er, can yah untie meh now?!" Rogue, who was still tied up and felt forgotten, yelled.  
  
"O' course, chere!" Remy answered, and undid the metal beams holding her. He lifted her down and put her on her feet.  
  
"Come on, we gotta go help the others." Logan said to the two, and started to run. Remy followed. Rogue tried to run, but she'd only taken three steps when she started to feel dizzy and she felt her legs collapsing under her. This, she thought, was almost definitely because of no food.  
  
'Told you!' the Kitty in her head said. Rogue thudded to the ground, and the last thing she saw was Remy, probably turning to see why she wasn't following, looking at her, calling, "Chere!" before she blacked out.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
What did you think then? Was it ok? Please tell me! And if I missed you out at the beginning I am incredibly sorry *bows down before you*  
  
1 = Can someone who does French please tell me do you call girls mon ami and guys mes ami or is it the other way round? I do German and Spanish you see the only French I know is ballet and Remy doesn't go around speaking fluent ballet steps now does he?!  
  
Please review!  
  
Dark Ballerina  
  
xxx 


	11. Wednesday Part III

It was my birthday last Saturday! And my party tomorrow! *parties*  
  
Chapter 10 - Wednesday Part III (yes I know there's a lot of parts to Wednesday oh well ^_~)  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Rogue thudded to the ground, and the last thing she saw was Remy, probably turning to see why she wasn't following, looking at her, calling, "Chere!" before she blacked out.  
  
*  
  
"Omigod! Omigod! He's got her! Omigod! Omigod!"  
  
"Kitty, stop. You're making me dizzy." Bobby said, his eyes rolling all over as he watched the panicking valley girl run squealing around the cave.  
  
"Calm down, Kit, we have a job to do." Amara said.  
  
"Yeah, and besides, we already knew they had Rogue, that's the whole point." Jean added.  
  
Kitty finally stopped running around like a headless chicken (1) and yelped, "Yeah, but look!" she dashed over to the mouth of the cave, where Sabretooth was still holding 'Rogue', and now throwing her up in the air, and catching her again, 'Rogue' squirming in the ropes. "See! That, like, can't be healthy! And people aren't like supposed to like do that when they like kidnap someone!" Kitty protested, pointing to the pirate ship.  
  
(Meanwhile on the Pirate ship:  
  
Mystique: Cut - it - out! I'm - not - a - doll - to - throw - about - I'm - a - kidnapped - X-man!  
  
Sabretooth: But it adds extra effect!  
  
Magneto: No it doesn't, stop it Sabretooth.)  
  
"Yeah, but its Sabretooth, what do you expect?" Scott answered her, then said to the rest of them, "Come on team, we know what we have to do."  
  
*  
  
"I'm not backing out. What does he think I am, weak?"  
  
Tabby approached the mansion in which she used to live on Sabretooth's bike. She held up her thumb to the small panel on the front of the gate, and waited a few moments while it scanned her thumbprint. After a small while a mechanical voice said, "Welcome Tabitha Smith." then the gates opened wide and she drove in.  
  
Halfway up the round path leading to the mansion's front door, she stopped the motorbike and looked up at the huge house before her. Before her eyes flashed memories of her being happy in there; her on the balconies with Kurt, her watching TV with Jamie, her reading magazines with Amara in her bedroom, her out skating with Rogue, Kitty and Jean. She thought of the people inside (2) whom she was about to kill, people who had finally accepted her for who she was and treated her like family. She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to erase the memories before they changed her mind.  
  
Too late.  
  
'I can't.' she thought to herself. 'I can't. I can't murder them. I can't just take away their whole life.'  
  
"I CAN'T DO IT!" she yelled aloud.  
  
Her head spun, making her feel dizzy. Breathing fast, she thought to herself, 'I'm not killing them. No way.'  
  
Suddenly, an idea hit her. Solemnly, she climbed back onto the bike and drove nearer towards the mansion door. Once there, she got off and ran inside to find an empty mansion.  
  
"They knew what we were doing!" she thought aloud, not bothering to hide the big grin that plastered itself across her face, "Even if I didn't change my mind, they wouldn't have died! But how did they know?" Tabby suddenly realised how stupid she must look, talking aloud to herself, and she ran upstairs, blushing slightly. She knew what she had to do. A few minutes later she was back out of the gate, carrying a box that wasn't with her before, and heading towards the Brotherhood house.  
  
*  
  
"So, should we get ready then?" Jamie asked.  
  
Everyone turned to look at Lance.  
  
"Hey! Why're you all looking at me?" he said, slightly freaked out by the many eyes upon him.  
  
Pietro stood up on a couch and waved his arms about in the air so everyone noticed him. They did, and he began, "Mutants, mutants. Unlike some people - " he looked at Lance, who childishly stuck his tongue out at him, " - I know what to do. The life of our friend is at stake. Let us show her kidnappers what we're made of!"  
  
Several cheers and applause from the others broke out. Pietro smirked, and added as an afterthought, "Hey, I sound just like my dad!"  
  
"Erm, hello? We haven't got uniforms." Ray broke in.  
  
"Yeah, I'm not fighting in my pyjamas!" Jubilee added.  
  
"Well, erm, we could, er - " stammered Pietro, trying to think of a solution.  
  
"How about getting your uniforms on." Came a voice from the doorway.  
  
"I just said, we haven't got - Tabby?" Ray turned round to see a familiar figure in the doorway.  
  
"Why hello." Tabby added, and walked towards them, opening a box she was carrying and took out the New Recruits' uniforms. "Bung these on, we're gonna save us some X-ass."  
  
Obediently each of the New Recruits stepped forward, grabbed their uniforms and disappeared upstairs. Tabby, who was already in hers, yelled up the stairs, "Hurry up! We haven't got much time!"  
  
"And don't go in my room!" Pietro added.  
  
Soon, the New Recruits had joined Tabby and the Brotherhood downstairs, dressed in their X-uniform, and ready to go.  
  
"I take it you already know what we're doing?" Tabby asked. Most people nodded. "Good. Ozcas canal is just round the corner. When we get there, listen to me, because I have a plan. Don't just go attacking Magneto, kay?" Everyone murmured yes.  
  
"I don't know what we're doing!" Jamie tugged at Tabby's arm as they were on their way out of the front door. "I don't understand. Are we helping free Rogue? The Professor said not to help."  
  
"I know he did." Tabby said, flicking her hair out of her face, "But he doesn't know what Magneto's up to."  
  
*  
  
"Chere?"  
  
Rogue's eyes opened, her vision temporarily blurred. She could see a shape in front of her, moving about. Her eyes focused and she saw red and black eyes staring into her own emerald ones, only an inch or so away from her face.  
  
"AARGH!"  
  
Remy moved away, startled by her sudden cry. She had, after all, been unconscious for 15 minutes. Rogue shot up and scrambled to her feet, wondering why she'd been lying on the ground like that.  
  
"Whoa chere, y' nearly gave Remy a heart attack!" Remy joked, getting up slowly and standing up beside her.  
  
"Cajun! Did yah see how close yah were tah me! Ah coulda absorbed yah!" Rogue didn't yell, but her voice was sharp. Though, Remy heard, it sounded quite close to tears. He ignored this fact though, and instead said one of his usual remarks.  
  
"Aww, chere, Remy didn't tink y' cared."  
  
"Ah don't. But it's crowded enough in there, even without yah." She gestured to her head, then let her arm swing limply beside her again. Then she looked around. "Where's Logan?"  
  
"Monsieur Wolverine went off over in dat direction." Remy pointed around the big climbing rock they were hidden behind, and towards the pirate ship, "An' - "  
  
"An' Ah'm off." Rogue tried to walk the same way, but Remy stood in front of her, his hand leant against the rock, his arm blocking her way.  
  
"Y' not meant t' interrupt Remy, chere. Its rude."  
  
Rogue just mumbled something under her breath, so Remy just continued what he was originally saying.  
  
"An' he said not t' follow him. For any reason."  
  
"An' whah's that?"  
  
"Remy tinks its because he tinks you've been in enough trouble recently. An' so does Remy." He answered, smirking.  
  
"Then Remy can fuck off." Rogue said, turning her back on him and taking a step in the opposite direction to him. Remy ran and stood in front of her again, using the same method to once again block her way.  
  
"Cajun! Whadda yah think you're doin'?''  
  
"Stoppin' you, chere. Y' not goin' t' help, Remy has t' look after y'."  
  
"Ah don't need lookin' after. You're the one that needs lookin' after. An' that insane buddy o' yours."  
  
"True, Pyro does need lookin' after. So do you, chere. But Remy doesn't."  
  
"Ok, ok. Just let meh go." She tried again to push past him, but he stood firm, no intention of letting her go at all.  
  
"Uh-uh, chere. Y' not goin'. Remy ain't lettin' y'."  
  
"Fahne," Rogue mumbled, looking to the ground but not moving.  
  
'She's up to something.' Remy thought, 'She wouldn't give up that easily. Sure, she went on, but being Rogue, she would yell at me or fight or something.'  
  
Then she looked up again, into Remy's eyes, and then over his shoulder.  
  
'What is she doing?' He was really puzzled now.  
  
Rogue's gaze seemed to focus on something behind his right shoulder. Her eyes seemed to be glued to whatever it was - so Remy, who, basically, wanted all of her attention on him, turned to see what was so interesting. And that was his weak move. For as he turned, Rogue saw instantly that her own plan of action had worked; she turned and ran as fast as she could (which was pretty fast; at least Logan's 3 - hour training did actually work) in the opposite direction of Remy. The very direction she'd first intended to go to. Towards the pirate ship. Remy turned back after gazing at the air behind him (yes, he had found out there was absolutely nothing there) to see Rogue running towards the distant pirate ship. It was quite far away, but she'd manage to get there in time to screw things up.  
  
"CHERE!" He yelled, exasperated, still behind the climbing rock. Rogue, still running, heard this, and she didn't bother to hide the smirk covering her face.  
  
*  
  
She knew that leering, grinning face would haunt her dreams tonight. How could he be so - triumphant - when carrying a hostage who looked very ill? It looked as if she hadn't eaten since she disappeared. So it was probably true.  
  
Storm continued to look up into the face of Sabretooth. She was pale, even under her cocoa coloured skin, and she seemed unable to move. She tried to say something to Nightcrawler, to reassure him maybe, but all that came out was a load of meaningless jumble. In the end, it was Nightcrawler who was doing the reassuring.  
  
"Storm?" He asked quietly, gently tapping her on the shoulder. "Are you ok?" He was concerned about her; her bright blue eyes were wide with shock and she continued to look up at the three mutants.  
  
"Y - yes, thank you, I am fine." She replied weakly, breaking her gaze with the hairy mutant above them. Though she looked anything but. Her hands were still shaking, and it looked like her legs were going to collapse any minute.  
  
'I bet if a fly were to crash into her she would fall over,' Nightcrawler thought, and usually, he would have laughed out loud, or smiled at least; but under the circumstances, he did neither. Instead, he looked back up to the Pirate ship, and saw something that angered and upset him more than when he first saw Magneto, Sabretooth and Rogue before.  
  
Sabretooth, who had been throwing Rogue in the air and catching her before Magneto told him to stop, had done it again when Magneto wasn't looking. And he missed. She tumbled, almost over the side of it into the water. Luckily Sabretooth reached out and caught her in the nick of time, but had he not - Nightcrawler growled. He actually growled. This sudden, fierce noise made Storm jump; she quickly turned her head to look at him and was surprised at the clear anger and hurt written across his face.  
  
"MAGNETO!" he yelled. "Give me back my SISTER!!!!!" (3)  
  
It was so loud - it echoed round the entire canal; everyone heard it. Logan, who was climbing up the rocks near the cave, which was holding the X- men team, could hear and smell the anger in him. The X-men in the cave all turned their heads, shocked, towards the direction of their usually calm team mate. The approaching New Recruits, Brotherhood (being led by Tabby) heard it, and looked around themselves asking each other, "Was that Kurt?!" Remy, over behind the climbing rock, wondering whether to run after Rogue, or stay where he was, heard it. And Rogue, currently running towards the nearing ship, screeched to a halt as she heard the angry cry of her new found brother. 'Uh-oh.' She thought, and carried on running, though she wasn't sure she could last much longer. She could feel herself getting a bit more light headed, but still she carried on. She had to.  
  
"Ah, young Nightcrawler." Magneto looked down upon the two mutants standing on the ground below the ship. "What was that - give you back your sister? You're not even related, I believe." (4)  
  
"With blood or without, she's still my sister." Nightcrawler answered, quietly but deadly. At this comment Mystique gave a loud sniff. Sabretooth prodded her in the back as if to tell her to remind herself that currently she was Rogue, not Mystique.  
  
"Touching. Very touching. But I'm afraid you won't be getting this back - " he gestured at the figure in Sabretooth's arms, " - until you give us that." He pointed to the packet in Storm's shaking hands. His gaze made Storm shudder even more, and she almost dropped the packet. Nightcrawler took it off her, and held it above his head.  
  
"Take it zen!" he demanded.  
  
Magneto raised an eyebrow. "I don't have telekinesis, Mr Wagner."  
  
"I know zat," Nightcrawler snapped back; he didn't have time for a stupid old man like Magneto, powerful as he may be. Then he did something he should've done a while ago. He teleported up to the top of the ship and reached for his sister. Sabretooth quickly pulled Mystique out of the way of the teenager's reaching grasp and Magneto snatched the package of money out of his three-fingered hand.  
  
"Zere! You have ze money! Now I vant my sister!"  
  
Sabretooth smirked maliciously, and growled, "Sure." Nightcrawler knew he was planning something; sure enough, Sabretooth raised Mystique, still in Rogue's body, high above his head. Nightcrawler didn't move, just watched, alarmed. Then suddenly, Sabretooth gave an almighty roar and threw Mystique off the side!  
  
Mystique screamed, though it was more of a muffled shriek as her mouth was gagged. Nightcrawler yelled in distress - no way was he going to lose her - and made out to be about to port, but before he did, he saw 'Rogue' stop in mid-air and float safely to the ground. He ported down to the edge, where Storm was stood, arms out in front of her, eyes white like they always were when she used her powers. Nightcrawler ported to where his mother (in form of his sister) was, and back to the ground where himself and Storm previously were, careful not to touch her skin.  
  
Storm peered into the metamorph's face, as did Nightcrawler. Mystique decided to pretend to be in a faint because of the fall so had her eyes closed. She felt strong arms embracing her, and heard Nightcrawler's accented voice whisper, "It's all right, sis. You're ok now." Strong feelings of guilt and happiness hit her; though she was mostly responsible for their ruined childhood, they'd both managed to be together again and be proper brother and sister. She felt the beginnings of tears prickling behind her closed eyelids, and was glad she had her eyes closed.  
  
Nightcrawler picked Mystique up and told Storm to put her hand on his shoulder. She did so, and they ported to the safe, unseen caves where the other X-men were previously.  
  
*  
  
"Rogue!"  
  
Shadowcat ran from the mouth of the cave to near the back where three of her team mates were stood, one of them carrying the limp form of another. On seeing this, she squealed,  
  
"Oh my gosh! Is she ok?"  
  
Everyone in the cave at that point crowded round Storm and Nightcrawler, who was carrying who he, and everyone else, believed to be his unconscious sister. Then Nightcrawler spoke, solemn, as he had uncharacteristically (AN ooh! Long word!) been from the first time he heard his sister was missing.  
  
"She will be fine. But you vill all have to leave and do your part of the plan now."  
  
Everyone nodded, and ran to the front of the cave. Nightcrawler lay 'Rogue' down on the floor and joined the others at the front. Meanwhile Mystique, who had got sleepy from closing her eyes for a while, and didn't have much sleep tonight anyway, drifted away into a deep sleep. Unfortunately, when she was asleep, she didn't have any control over her power, so she couldn't stay in a disguise. Uh-oh. But as everyone was peeping out the front of the cave, nobody noticed her change into her real self.  
  
"Ok," Cyclops started, "Shadowcat, Jean, Iceman - you need to stop Magneto from escaping. Iceman, form an ice slide that will get you down there. Storm - you fly above them and make it cloudy so Magneto can't spot them. Spyke, Magma, Gambit and I will go round that way - " he pointed down to the ground, "and attack him from a different angle."  
  
"Err - Cyclops? Gambit's not here." Nightcrawler pointed out.  
  
"What?!" Cyclops looked around, and sure enough, there wasn't a Cajun present. Cyclops growled in frustration. "I KNEW he was too quiet! I knew it! He's a trouble maker, and we shouldn't have trusted him."  
  
"Scott, calm down." Jean told him. "We should really go now."  
  
"Ok." He replied, "Kurt - you sure you'll be all right on your own?"  
  
"I'm not on my own. I have Rogue."  
  
"Ok then. X-men - go!" The mutants crept out of the mouth of the cave, leaving Kurt Wagner standing there alone. But not for long.  
  
"Whatcha doin' on your own, elf?"  
  
Kurt jumped at the sudden voice, then stared down at the figure trying to pull itself up into the cave in amazement. "Volverine? Vhere on earth have you been?"  
  
"Same place as Rogue, an' it wasn't nice." He clambered up, his muscled forearms straining. Kurt held out a hand to help him up, but Wolverine shook his head and stood up. "Just climbed those rocks." He pointed to the rocks that lead up to the cave opening. "I needed to tell you all something important, but when I got here, you'd all gone. Except you."  
  
"And Rogue!" Kurt added.  
  
"And that's just the problem." Wolverine said. Kurt frowned - what the hell was he on about? Shouldn't he at least be happy that Rogue was safe?  
  
"Vhat do you mean?!" Kurt angered slightly. "She is safe!"  
  
"She's safe because me an' Gumbo rescued her."  
  
"Nein! Storm and I rescued her! She is over in that corner!" Kurt pointed, though not actually looking at the body whom he was pointing at. Wolverine peeped over his arm, and frowned.  
  
"Have you seen what you're pointing at elf?"  
  
Kurt turned around, not really seeing why he was doing so, because he knew Rogue was lying there - he put her there himself. So, naturally, he was shocked at what sight did meet his eyes.  
  
With medium-length red hair, tiny black clothing and most importantly, blue skin, this could be no other than the sleeping form of his own mother - Mystique.  
  
"Mystique?!" She stirred, awoken by his sudden loud cry. She sat up and gently smiled at him, before realising the situation - her cover was blown.  
  
"Damn."  
  
*  
  
Whoo. Long chappie for me! Anyway -  
  
1 - I love that expression! I always try to use it when possible coz I think its really funny! Lol  
  
2 - At that point, Tabby wouldn't have known that no one was inside. Just so you know. ^_^  
  
3 - Kind of like when he yells "Give me back my inducer!" at Toad in The Toad, the witch and the Wardrobe.  
  
4 - I know I've written Magneto a bit OOC ish here. It's more like the Magneto from the movie. He's groovy in that! Nicking off with people's blood . . . ^_~  
  
Anyway, I'll try to get this up as soon as I can. But please review! Ya know ya wanna. :p  
  
DB  
  
xxx 


	12. Banana

OC means Original Character (a made up one), OOC means Out Of Character.  
  
Chapter 11 - Banana  
  
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"Got. Tah. Keep. Running!"  
  
Rogue stumbled forward slightly, losing speed, as she tried to keep running towards the X-men (and away from Remy). She could feel her legs getting weaker by the second, but she had to keep running, had to get there and warn everyone about Mystique.  
  
Rogue's head spun as well, which didn't help the situation. Her feet stopped pounding the ground, and she stood still, swaying slightly, feeling sick. It felt like she hadn't eaten in weeks! Forcing herself on, she took a few steps, then collapsed onto the wet grass beneath her, not unconscious but very weak.  
  
After lying there in the dirt for a minute, Rogue made herself get up again, and stumbled on, clothes covered in mud. Suddenly she heard a noise; looking up, she saw a familiar face. Kitty Pryde, her room mate and fellow X-man, looked down over the pirate ship's edge and saw Rogue standing there. Kitty phased down through the ship's wooden sides and landed on the ground. She hugged the bedraggled girl in front of her, happy, but shocked when she fully saw the state her best friend was in.  
  
Rogue was leaning against the wood, too weak to stand up on her own. Her ribs were clearly visible through her green top, and her face was gaunt and tired, make up smudged, eyelids closed. Her always-neat hair was messy and unkempt, and her clothes were ripped and covered in wet mud.  
  
"Oh my God Rogue." Kitty whispered. Rogue opened her eyes and looked up at her, her emerald eyes glazed.  
  
"Mystique. Kurt- Mystique." Rogue tried to say a sentence, but her words got jumbled up in her mouth so all that Kitty could understand was those names.  
  
"What about them?" Kitty asked gently.  
  
"Trap - Mystique - Kurt." Rogue's face was screwed up in frustration, annoyed that she couldn't say a sentence properly. "Kurt - Mystique - trap - Bucket head - murder."  
  
Kitty just watched, wide eyed. Jean peeped over the top of the pirate ship to see Kitty stood watching Rogue, who was speaking.  
  
'Huh?' Jean thought, 'But Rogue was back with Kurt!'  
  
Kitty, meanwhile, was thinking the same thing. 'How come Rogue's here, when I saw her up there?'  
  
Rogue seemed to see the suspicion in her eyes. "Kitty - it really is meh."  
  
A memory suddenly popped into Kitty's head as she got an idea.  
  
~*~ FLASH BACK ~*~  
  
Will you be my girlfriend; I'll treat you good . . .  
  
"Kitty, will yah turn that crap off? Yah shouldn't bother with stupid boy bands."  
  
"Your music like isn't much better!"  
  
Rogue watched in amusement as Kitty waltzed round the room in time to the music. How could she stand this? It made Rogue want to barf.  
  
"Really, Kit, how's Justin Timberlake gonna help yah in later lahfe?"  
  
"How's - " Kitty's face went thoughtful as she racked her brains for one of Rogue's favourite bands, " - Banana gonna help you in like later life?"  
  
Rogue let out a laugh. "Banana?! Ah don't remember ever buyin' a Banana CD."  
  
Kitty frowned. "You know! Banana!" She started to sing, "Here we are now, entertain us!"  
  
Rogue burst into uncontrollable laughter at this, and almost fell off the bed. Kitty just stood there, knowing she'd said something wrong. "What? What?!" she kept saying, until Rogue's laughing had died down a bit.  
  
"Yah meant Nirvana, didn't yah?"  
  
"Oh yeah! Nirvana! That was it!" Kitty blushed a bit, but laughed anyway at her own mistake. They were laughing for what it seemed like hours, until Rogue burst out,  
  
"Kit, if Ah'm eva sick, you're gonna have tah buy meh a Banana CD!"  
  
At this, both girls started laughing again.  
  
~*~ END FLASHBACK ~*~  
  
"So," Kitty started, "Are you wanting that CD? You're pretty sick I'd say."  
  
"Oh yeah." Rogue smiled faintly, "As long as it's Banana." She laughed lightly, which turned into a cough. Her eyes rolled upwards, and she fell forward into Kitty's arms. Kitty was alarmed at how light she was.  
  
"What is it with meh and faintin' lately." Rogue said surprisingly quickly, before she passed out.  
  
"Kitty?" Jean's voice called out. Kitty looked up. "Is it really Rogue?"  
  
"Yeah, its Rogue." Kitty yelled back, glancing down at the friend in her arms. "For definite."  
  
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Just a short li'l chappie I did. Pls review!  
  
Luv  
  
DB  
  
xxx 


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